India seal emphatic series win

India’s young guns – Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni – shared a sparkling 146-run stand, to take the visitors to their fourth consecutive ODI win against Pakistan, and seal the Hutch Cup at an emphatic 4-1.

Yuvraj continued his magical form into the final match, having already scored over 200 runs in four matches at an average of over 100. He completed a century, despite being down with an injury, while Dhoni once again bamboozled the Pakistani bowling, by thrashing the bowlers all around the park on the way to an unbeaten 77, unsurprisingly at better than a-run-a-ball, in a chase that could have easily gone awry.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan set up a challenging total, despite being kept in check within the Power Plays by some enterprising bowling by S Sreesanth, who ultimately ended up with four wickets, and a best figure. He accounted for both the Pakistani openers, who despite a good start, and looking in ominous form, were removed in the 11th over; Imran Farhat was caught and bowled, whereas Kamran Akmal top edge a risky shot to deep fine leg.

Sreesanth has Shoaib Malik caught at gully by Suresh Raina, to put the home side in a sort of a precarious condition, from whereon a further wicket would have spelt disaster. Inzamam-ul-Haq, confirmed as the national captain for another year to come, celebrated with a big six over long-on. But he followed soon after, LBW to Romesh Powar, leaving Pakistan open to attack.

Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan too care of the innings from thereforth, making sure that they don’t lose a wicket, yet continuing at a steady pace. Both crossed their half centuries, before the former was caught by Zaheer Khan off Ajit Agarkar for 67. Abdul Razzaq scored a brisk 24 from 15 balls, as Younis remained unbeaten on 74, to help the score on to 268/8 in the stipulated 50 overs.

India started their chase in a clinical fashion; both Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid sharing a half-century opening stand. Although Gambhir looked the clear aggressor of the two, he was still missing a lot of shots, and was bound to be removed soon, which he was for 32. Dravid was going pretty slow, and despite brining up 9000 ODI runs on his way to 50, he left immense pressure on Yuvraj and Dhoni, who joined the former after his fall.

India needed 94 runs off the last 10 overs, but with Dhoni in the middle, there was always a chance that they would be able to knock the runs off with balls to space. Although Yuvraj took the role of attacking to start with, a hamstring pull when he was on 82 hampered him from playing his shots thenceforth, which was when Dhoni took charge.

Dhoni’s strike rate was in the 80s and 90s through his initial phase of the innings up to 30 runs, after which he went berserk. His last 50 runs came off only 27 balls. Even Mohammad Asif, who had by far been the best bowler on the day, and in fact throughout the series, for Pakistan, was hammered all around the park. Dhoni was especially severe on Mohammad Sami who completed the series with an astonishing average of over 200, clearly in doubt for near-future selections.

India completed their 13th successive consecutive chase – something that would be immense pride as they were known to be lousy chasers throughout the late-90s, winning the series 4-1, after losing the first match.

Pakistan 286/8 in 50 overs
Mohammad Yousuf 67 (85), Younis Khan 74 *(79)
S Sreesanth 4/58 (10)
India 287/2 in 46.5 overs
R Dravid 50 (82), Yuvraj Singh 107* (93), MS Dhoni 77*(56)

Man of the Match: Yuvraj Singh

Player of the Series: Yuvraj Singh