Green park celebrates Indian victory …

India vice-captain Yuvraj Singh played a dominating knock of 77 runs and took one wicket to guide India to a 46-run victory against Pakistan in the third One-Day International here at the Green Park Stadium on Sunday.

Put into bat by the visitors, Yuvraj, who was adjudicated the man of the match, hit the ball hard for the big shots along with aggressive running between the wickets to guide India to a competitive total of 294 for 6.In reply Pakistan folded up for 248 in 47.2 overs.

The left-handed batsman, who was in devastating form, sent the visitors on a leather hunt and then bowled well to help India take a 2-1 lead in the five-match ODI series.

He also shared a solid 100-run partnership with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who hit a cavalier 49 off 52 balls.

For Pakistan, the highlight was Salman Butt’s sparkling innings of 129 runs from 142 balls studded with 17 fours. But it couldn’t translate into a win as Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Butt fought a lone battle on his way to his 4th ODI century against India playing some fine strokes in the process but didn’t get enough support from the other end.

In company of Misbah-ul-Haq, he tried to keep his team in the hunt by sharing a solid 80-run partnership but the required run-rate kept on mounting.

The loss of three top-order batsmen – Afridi, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf – pushed Pakistan right on the back foot.

The tourists were always fighting a lost battle with no specialist batsmen to take charge in the slog overs.

India opened the bowling with R P Singh, and Irfan Pathan who got the breakthrough claiming the wicket of the hero of the last match played here in 2005.

Shahid Afridi, who opened the innings with Butt, tried to hit one shot too many and perished for 12.

The wickets of Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf gave India the much-needed impetus. The three pacers bowled with control; Zaheer Khan, who had a rather forgettable game at Mohali, returned with commendable figures (25 for 1 in seven overs).

Runs dried up when Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were introduced into the attack.

The target got stiffer as Pakistan were up against an asking rate of 10 in the last twelve runs. Eventually they fell short by 46 runs.

Earlier, the openers, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, got away with some streaky edges and largely struggled against the pace of Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul.

Pakistan, as their wont, were sloppy on the field and missed a few catches. To start with wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal dropped an easy catch of Ganguly on the very first ball of the match off Shoaib Akhtar, followed by Tendulkar getting a life off the bowling of Umar Gul when Misbah-u-Haq failed to get his hands to the ball.

After the initial jitters, India’s most successful opening pair found their touch as they went after the bowling. Ganguly was the first one to take the initiative as he charged down to hit a six of Gul over long-on. Though Gul extracted swing, the Indian opening duo took him on. India’s most reliable opening pair shared a stand of 68 in just over ten overs.

Sohail Tavir was introduced into the attack as the first change and that did the trick for Pakistan. He bowled with control and stifled the scoring rate and soon snared both the openers.

Tanvir induced an edge off the little master and this time Akmal took a fine catch behind the stumps. A few overs later he bowled Ganguly for 39 (46 balls, 4x4, 1x6); at that stage the Bengal southpaw was going great guns. Tanvir finished with 2 for 26.

Thereafter, some tight bowling by the Pakistanis kept Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh quiet for some time. Abdur Rehman, who replaced Rao Iftikhar, scalped Gambhir. The Delhi southpaw continuing his rich form looked good but failed to get a big one at Kanpur.

Skipper Mahnedra Singh Dhoni and deputy Yuvraj Singh took their time to settle down while Pakistan bowlers maintained a disciplined line.

Yuvraj subsequently released the pressure by spanking two sixes Abdur Rehman. Dhoni doubled the joy for India, biffing two more sixes off Shoaib Malik in the very next over.

Shahid Afridi and Abdur Rehman started leaking runs, with the former conceding 57 in 7 overs. Rehman too was expensive giving away 58 in his 7 overs.

Targeting the spinners both these batsmen went for their shots taking India past the 250 mark.

But Dhoni fell to Shoaib Akhtar, one run short of his fifty. Later Rehman claimed the wicket of danger-man Yuvraj who fell for a well-made 77 off 95 balls, hitting 4 fours and 3 sixes.

India maintained a high run rate even as they lost wickets towards the death. Irfan Pathan lit up the run riot in the last two overs scoring 17 runs off just 7 balls.