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InDepth headlines national business sports cricket regional entertainment technology world travel autos health | in-depth coverage > India-Pakistan Series 2006 > India emerge unassailable in Multan 21.32 IST 16th Feb 2006 By Manish Kumar 
India beat Pakistan by 5 wickets in the fourth match of the series in Multan today to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.This is the second time ever that India won a one-day series against Pakistan in Pakistan, the first series victory coming on the last tour. India achieved the victory target of 162 runs in 32.3 overs with the loss of five wickets. The Indian run chase began on a poor note when they lost Sachin Tendulkar for a duck. Sachin edged a wide delivery from Mohammad Sami into hands of Kamran Akmal in the second over of the Indian run chase. Sami struck again in the sixth over when Gautam Gambhir (21) edged a bouncer high up in the air for the fast bowler himself to complete the catch. Indian skipper Rahul Dravid and the in-form Yuvraj Singh added 85 runs for the third wicket and settled the nerves in the Indian dressing room. Both Dravid and Yuvraj were immaculate in the timing of their shots. If Yuvraj was stylish, Dravid was more copybook and none of the Pakistani players had any answer to their shots, which were finding gaps almost at will. The breakthrough for Pakistan came from an unexpected quarter when Yuvraj (37) edged a Rana Naved delivery behind the wicket into the hands of Akmal. Unexpected because today also Naved was very expensive giving away 33 runs from his six overs. Mohammad Kaif registered his second successive duck when he slashed at a wide delivery from Abdul Razzaq but edged it into the hands of Pakistani skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq at first slip. The problem with Kaif seems to be in his grip as his left hand was holding the top end of his bat’s handle and his right hand was holding the bottom end of the handle. This means that there was space between Kaif’s hands when he was holding the bat when he played the cut shot and there is no way a batsman can play a cut shot with that kind of a grip. Soon after, Dravid brought up his eleventh fifty against Pakistan and his 67th ODI 50 overall. But Sami was brought back in the attack and he trapped the Indian skipper plumb in front of the wicket with a full toss. The captain top scored for India with 59 runs coming off 72 balls with the help of nine fours. 19-year old Suresh Raina with an unbeaten 35 along with Mahendra Dhoni (2) led India to victory. Raina hit six fours in his knock and except for the mid-wicket pull that went for four and brought up India’s victory, all his fours were through the off-side through the covers and the point region. And those shots were example enough of the left-hander’s class. Raina looked stylish and elegance personified while driving through the covers whether it was on the front foot or the back foot. But that India were chasing only 162 runs to win, was due to some superb bowling by the Indian medium pacers backed by some excellent fielding. These two factors rocked the Pakistanis after Dravid put them in after winning the toss. Irfan Pathan struck first in the seventh over when he had Akmal (3) caught brilliantly by Raina at short point. Raina hardly had any time to react but a superb fielder that he is, he made the catch look very easy. In the twelfth over S Sreesanth induced an edge from Salman Butt’s willow and Dravid completed a superb catch diving to his left. Butt, after his ducks in Rawalpindi and Lahore, today scored 13 runs. Rudra Pratap Singh then broke the back of the Pakistani middle order grabbing two wickets in two deliveries. In the thirteenth over, Singh surprised Shoaib Malik with a bouncer who edged it up in the air and Pathan came running in from square leg to take the catch at almost backward square leg. Malik, how scored a ton in the last match, today scored nine runs. On the very next ball Singh trapped Pakistani vice-captain Younis Khan plumb in front of the wicket for a duck with a superb inswinger. From 29/4, the experienced pair of Inzamam and Mohammad Yousuf added 68 runs for the fifth wicket and tried to steady the ship. But just when it looked like the Pakistanis will recover again from a collapse, Ajit Agarkar had Yousuf (25) caught behind by Dhoni. With their batting in shambles, Pakistan substituted Imran Farhat for Yasir Arafat but the gamble didn’t pay off as Singh had Farhat (14) caught by Raina at mid-on. In the same over, Singh had Razzaq (1) caught behind by Dhoni to reduce Pakistan to 126/7. In the 37th over, Sachin trapped Inzamam (49) plumb in front of the wicket to send the whole stadium into dead silence. Sachin dismissed Inzamam for the record seventh time today – the most by any bowler in ODI cricket. Pathan then came back in the attack to take the last two wickets of Sami and Mohammad Asif and put an end to the Pakistani innings. Pakistan were bundled out for 161 runs in 41.5 overs. R P Singh was adjudged the Man of the Match for returning with figures of 10-0-40-4. The last match of the series is in Karachi on Sunday. in-depth coverage > India-Pakistan Series 2006 > |
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