Skipper Mahendra Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh struck fifties to spur India to a five-wicket win over Pakistan in the first match of their one-day series on Monday.
Displaying a thoroughly professional performance, India carve out a comfortable five-wicket win against Pakistan in the Guwahati One-Dayer
GUWAHATI: The expectations were great. This was no Twenty20, India and Pakistan were playing each other in a proper ODI after two years.
Lots of fireworks were expected. One definitely expected at least one or two memorable performances. Alas, that was not to be.
There was nothing spectacular about Monday’s match, sixes and fours came at a premium.
The good part was India won convincingly, with five wickets and three overs to spare. And this despite the early fall of Sachin Tendulkar. Pakistan chose to take first strike and posted a modest 239-7 off the stipulated 50 overs.
The hosts reached 242-5 in exactly 47 overs, Robin Uthappa’s mistimed skier past the third-man fence starting the celebrations in the stands.
After a decent bowling performance, there were some good partnerships that saw the hosts home, and draw first blood in the five-match series.
Captain and man-of-the-match Mahendra Singh Dhoni (63) and his deputy Yuvraj Singh (58) played responsible knocks, Gautam Gambhir justified his selection ahead of Virender Sehwag with a breezy 44 off as many balls, while Sourav Ganguly, despite making amends to some extent with his batting, faltered badly in the fielding department.
Pakistan players looked lost on the field. Their captain Shoaib Malik seemed bereft of ideas.
They failed to capitalise on a good opening start, and when their turn came, they dropped catches, and were sloppy on the field.
Barring, of course, the performance of Mohd Yousuf, whose unbeaten 83 gave the total some respectability, and opener Salman Butt, who gave the start his side needed, only to see the later batsmen squander it.
All in all, a forgettable outing for the visitors. Skipper Malik admitted as much. “Fielding let us down. Had we not dropped catches, the result could have been different. I thought 239 wasa defendable target. Anyway, we have learnt from our mistakes, and will make amends in the next match. We will hit back,” he stated.
Was it all because of the emergency? “Next question please.”
India, on the other hand, gave a thoroughly professional performance. They bowled to the field, maintained a good line and never gave the Pak batters the opportunity to break free.
When they chased they lost Tendulkar early, when the total was just 14, but Ganguly and Gambhir added 80 runs for the second wicket.
Dhoni and Yuvraj carried the good work further, adding 105 runs in quick time for the fourth wicket, before Irfan Pathan and Uthappa gave the finishing touches.
“The wicket was slow and taking turn. I think we batted really well under the circumstances. The bowlers did a decent job, they bowled according to the plan. But we should not get carried away, they will come back stronger. We have to keep the momentum going,” Dhoni said.
Earlier, Pakistan couldn’t capitalise on the opening foundation laid by Butt and Kamran Akmal. With the wicket playing a tad slow, it was difficult to score boundaries.
In fact, between the 13th and 34th overs, the ball never reached the fence even once, Shahid Afridi breaking the trend with the first and only six of their innings in the 35th over off Zaheer Khan.
Butt looked in sublime touch, caressing the ball through the covers and square-leg region with alarming regularity, before a mix-up with Younis Khan saw his premature departure.
Younis and Mohd Yousuf added 35 runs for the third wicket, before the former (25, 57 balls) was caught at the long-on fence by Irfan while trying to clear Harbhajan.
Afridi came in next, and immediately got into his groove, as he and Yousuf added 59 runs for the fourth wicket in quick time. Just when he was threatening to break loose, Sachin Tendulkar foxed him with a faster one and Dhoni was off with bails in a flash. Afridi’s 31 came off 32 balls, with one four and a six.
Pak lost the momentum thereafter, and it was only the soothing presence of Mohd Yousuf that saw them to a decent total.
For India, Harbhajan (1/29) and Murali Kartik (0/36) were economical, but it was Tendulkar’s twin blows that got rid of Afridi and Pak skipper Malik that actually put the brakes on Pak’s progress.
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