Zeenews Bureau
Jaipur, Nov 18:
Pakistan snatched an impressive win from India in the fifth and the final ODI at Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday. Pakistan won the match comfortably by 31 runs to wrap up the series 2-3 in favour of India. Pakistan did not allow Indian batsmen to settle and hence forced them into submission. Shoaib Malik led by example by playing an excellent knock of 89 runs with the bat and then took 3 key wickets with the ball.
Chasing 307 for victory, India started shakily as they lost the wicket of Gautam Gambhir early on in the innings. Gambhir’s leg was caught plumb in front of the wicket on Tanvir’s delivery. The ball swung in from outside the off stump only to hit Gambhir’s pads.
Young Robin Uthappa then joined Sachin Tendulkar as Indian scorecard read 15 for the loss of one wicket.
The strong crowd at Sawai Man Singh Stadium, who were expecting another impressive innings from the Little Master, were stunned when Sachin was dismissed on the score of 30 runs. Little Master who showed vintage form before giving an edge to a Tanvir delivery played some breathtaking shots. However, Uthappa could not capitalise on a chance and fell after scoring just a single.
India went into deep shock, soon, when Virender Sehwag was dismissed. Sehwag yet again playing a horrendous shot as Indian score plummeted to 62 for the loss of 4 wickets
India then looked to consolidate through Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma and were partially successful. Sharma in particular looked in good touch while facing Pakistani fast bowlers. He also managed to seep through Pakistan bowling attack to score his first ODI fifty. His fifty came in 58 balls. India managed to go past 100 runs with left and right combination picking up the gaps easily.
India lost the crucial wicket of Rohit Sharma as the middle order batsman was caught in the deep by Imran Nazir. Shoaib Malik who’s bowling was initially thrashed for boundaries by Tendulkar took the important wicket of Sharma.
India’s vice-captain Yuvraj Singh smashed an impressive fifty to bring life to home team’s chances of winning the last ODI of the series against Pakistan. Yuvraj, however, was soon dismissed on a bouncer from Umar Gul that went straight into the hands of wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed after supposedly touching his bat. Disappointed Yuvraj left for pavilion with India reeling at 188 for 6.
Yuvraj Singh hammered the fifty in 61 balls. This was his 34th ODI fifty and the ninth against Pakistan.
After his deputy was gone, Team India captain Mahendra Dhoni too gave way as he was caught by Imran Nazir. Dhoni who lofted the Shoaib Malik’s ball into the air, was caught by Imran Nazir. He made 24 runs and departed as hopes of an Indian revival faded further.
Soon after, Murli Kartik was caught on Rao Iftikhar’s delivery. Kartik who was caught by Imran Nazir made 16 runs from 10 balls. Before this, Praveen Kumar who was playing in his first one-day international was caught in the deep as he tried to make runs in a hurry.
Irfan Pathan made the last ditch effort as he contributed heavily with the bat in the end. Pathan made 44 runs from 39 balls.
Earlier, batting first on a batsmen friendly Sawai Man Singh pitch, Pakistan set a target of 307 runs for India to win. Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf were the chief architects of Pakistan innings. Fawad Alam, who joined Misbah at the crease and looked to give good support to him.
Skipper Malik was severe on wayward Indian bowlers. With seven wickets still remaining, Malik decided to launch the attack by dancing down the pitch and hitting Yuvraj for a four in the 41st over of the innings. Lack of regular fifth bowler made it tough for Dhoni to check the Pakistan onslaught. Interestingly Sachin was not tried with bowl.
Malik and Yousuf batted with caution to start with but slowly stepped the tempo as partnership grew over 100 runs. Malik in particular was aggressive of the two in process dispatching Sehwag for a huge six over mid wicket. In process he also scored his 24th ODI fifty. Mohammed Yousuf joined his captain and scored the second fifty of the match facing just 60 balls.
Reflecting why he is the main stay of Pakistan middle order, Mohammed Yousuf batted sensibly after a minor collapse engineered by Sreesanth. Giving him company was skipper Malik who faces criticism back home after his team lost to India. Murali Kartik operating with the bowl was unlucky not to have any wickets after couple of close leg before wicket appeal.
India’s S Sreesanth was on cloud nine as he got his 50th ODI wicket in Imran Nazir. The batsman was unable to pick up the slower ball cleanly and the bowler himself came up with a sparkling reflex catch, sending the Indian camp in a state of celebrations. The wicket brought the stands at Jaipur alive with energy. Pakistan were on backfoot owing to the success of the comeback bowler.
Sreesanth made his comeback worth its weight in gold for India as he claimed the top order batsmen with his fierce bowling. First he got the prized scalp of Salman Butt who was at a score of 36 runs. Yaseer Hamid, who could add only one run to the Pakistan scorecard, followed the opener to the dressing room. Pakistan scorecard read 70 runs at the end of 15 overs for the loss of two wickets.
Nazir and Butt started cautiously but soon picked bad balls for dispatching. Pakistan scored 64 runs after 12 overs but did not lose any wicket. Jaipur audience were pleasantly surprised by prescence of Bollywood’s King Shah Rukh Khan among them. Shah Rukh arrived Jaipur on the match eve. Rookie all rounder Praveen Kumar was handed over the new ball ahead of Sreesanth. Praveen maintained a decent line and length bowling to in form Salman Butt and bowled a maiden first over.
Imran Nazir is the other Pakistani opener. Put into bat Pakistani openers made slow progress on a seemingly batting friendly wicket at Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
Earlier, Indian skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first in the fifth and final ODI against Pakistan in Jaipur. Rohit Sharma took the place of Sourav Ganguly for the match with S Sreesanth coming in for RP Singh.
Explaining his decision Dhoni remarked, “Dew will be a deciding factor in the second innings hence bowling in second half is not a good option.”
Strike pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal were left out from the playing eleven.
Teams:
India:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain/wicket-keeper), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Rohit Sharma, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar
Pakistan:
Shoaib Malik (captain), Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal (wicket-keeper), Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Abdur Rehman and Iftikhar Anjum
