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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 deliver the final blow in Karachi 23.59 IST 19th Feb 2006 By Manish Kumar 
India inflicted upon Pakistan its fourth consecutive defeat by thrashing the hosts by eight wickets in last match of the ODI series at the National Stadium in Karachi on February 19.The series was already in India’s pocket so they rested their number one batsman – Sachin Tendulkar and their number one bowler – Irfan Pathan. But the resurgent visitors, who had faced lot of flak after losing the third Test in Karachi, inflicted upon Pakistan its worst defeat in this one-day series, chasing a stiff target with more than three overs to spare. Chasing a victory target of 287 runs, India romped home in 46.5 overs scoring 287 runs with the loss of just two wickets. The magnificent response with the bat for India was build around the innings of skipper Rahul Dravid, the stylish Yuvraj Singh and the belligerent Mahendra Dhoni. In the absence of Sachin, India opened with a new pair of Dravid and Gautam Gambhir who gave the Indians a solid start amassing 69 runs in 15 overs. But Gambhir got out just when it was looking that the short Delhi opener would score his maiden 50 of the series. Throughout this series, Gambhir has been guilty of throwing his wicket away after getting good starts. And today was no different, as after scoring 38 runs with the help of six fours, Gambhir chased a wide delivery outside the off-stump from Iftikhar Anjum and gave a simple catch to wicket keeper Kamran Akmal. When Dravid reached two, he became the fourth Indian and the eighth batsman in the world to accomplish the feat of scoring 9,000 runs in ODI cricket. The Indian captain completed his 68th ODI 50 (4x6) before he was foxed by a slower delivery by Mohammad Sami and he ended up giving a simple catch to Shoaib Malik at mid-on. With required run rate at eight an over, Dhoni was promoted up the order at number four and he joined Yuvraj at the crease, who today batted at number three. And both Yuvraj and Dhoni today took India to victory just like they did in Lahore, showing excellent temperament of not crumbling under pressure. Though he pulled a thigh muscle later in the innings, Yuvraj smashed his sixth one-day hundred and remained unbeaten at 107 runs off 93 balls – a knock that was studded with fourteen fours. Dhoni mixed caution with aggression very beautifully today. He opened his arms after setting his eye in and hit his first boundary after facing fifteen deliveries. Though the asking run rate was more than eight runs per over, both Yuvraj and Dhoni didn’t panic at any stage, faced and belted the Pakistani bowling with relish and aplomb and the result was that India finished the match with more than three overs to spare. Dhoni remained unbeaten on a score of 77 that came off 56 balls and he hit six fours and four sixes in his rapid-fire knock. Earlier, Dravid won the toss and put in Pakistanis to bat. The hosts got off to a good start with openers Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat scoring at more than six runs per over. It was Kerala speedster S Sreesanth, who bowled first change today that brought India its first breakthrough in his first over. Sreesanth surprised Farhat (24) with a bouncer and the Pakistani opener edged the ball high up in the air for the bowler himself to take the catch. In his next over, Sreesanth bowled a bouncer at Akmal (25), who hooked the delivery to fine leg for Rudra Pratap Singh to complete the catch. In his next over, Sreesanth made an excellent use of the bowling crease by bowling from just wide of the umpire and bounced a delivery to Malik (12), who edged it to Suresh Raina at gully to take the catch. Pakistan slumped to 77/3 and skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf started the rescue work. But Ramesh Powar took his maiden ODI wicket when he trapped Inzamam (21) plumb in front of the wicket with a straighter delivery just after being hit for a huge six by the Pakistani captain. Yousuf scored his 47th ODI 50 and added 95 runs with Younis Khan for the fifth wicket. But on the first ball of the 40th over, Yousuf (67) played a slower delivery from Ajit Agarkar into the hands of Zaheer Khan at deep square leg to bring the big-hitting Abdul Razzaq to the crease. And Razzaq did added an impetus to the run rate hitting two fours and a huge six in his 15-ball knock of 24. But R P Singh took his first wicket of the match when he had Razzaq caught at mid-wicket by Dravid to reduced Pakistan to 239/6. Zaheer and Sreesanth took the next two Pakistani wickets but couldn’t stop Younis from top scoring for his team with an unbeaten 79-ball knock of 74 runs, which consisted of three fours and two sixes as Pakistan scored 286/8 in their 50 overs. Yuvraj was adjudged the Man of the Match as well as the Man of the Series as India won the series 4-1, after losing the Test series 1-0. As they say, alls well that ends well. in-depth coverage > India-Pakistan Series 2006 > |
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