Pakistan allow India to record face-saving win

NEW DELHI: Pakistan snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, squandering a perfect opportunity to whitewash old rivals India in their own backyard here at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground on Sunday.

The tourists, leading the series 2-0 following two impressive wins in Chennai and Kolkata, seemed set for a 3-0 clean sweep after bowling out the hosts for 167 in the third One-day International. They were within striking distance of a whitewash by reaching 113-3 in 34 overs before imploding in the final phase of what should have been a comfortable run-chase to allow the Indians a face-winning win in front of a packed, holiday crowd.

Pakistan’s last seven wickets fell for just 44 runs, a horrific display from a side that had stamped its superiority over the hosts in all departments of the game before taking the field for Sunday’s game — the last match of what was their first tour of India in five years.

Pakistan’s potent pace attack spearheaded by the young and spirited Junaid Khan once again toyed with the Indian top-order before off-spinner Saeed Ajmal bamboozled the rest of the Indian batting to finish with career-best figures of 5-24 in 9.4 overs.

MS Dhoni, the under-fire Indian skipper, must have been ruing his decision during the innings break to bat first under freezing conditions. But in the end, he was all smiles after bagging the man of the match award for his modest 55-ball 36 that helped the Indians avoid what would have been their first ODI whitewash since the winter of 1983, when Clive Lloyd’s West Indies avenged their World Cup final defeat by blanking the home team in an emphatic manner.

Agencies add: India made a spectacular defence of their modest 167, cashing in on Pakistan’s strange bout of nerves and questionable shot selection, to ensure that they kept the series margin down to 1-2.

Dhoni, having recovered from a sore back that had threatened to keep him out of the game, chose to bat on winning the toss but another top-order failure catalysed by continued excellence from Junaid and unflagging persistence from Mohammad Irfan reduced India to 37 for three. Ajmal then chose the perfect time to register his best ODI figures as Pakistan ruthlessly cut off all escape routes, sending India crashing to 167 all out with a massive 6.2 overs left unutilised.

There was enough in the conditions even in the second part of the match to keep the quicker bowlers interested, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shami Ahmed, on debut after replacing Ashok Dinda, exploited those conditions quite beautifully. Bhuvneshwar picked up Kamran Akmal, opening the batting instead of Mohammad Hafeez who sustained a finger injury while trying to catch Dhoni off his own bowling, and Younis Khan during an unchanged 10-over burst of two for 32.

The threat in the bowling was backed up by energy and enthusiasm in the field where India were positively electric, but that was briefly neutralised by the form of Nasir Jamshed and the stabilising influence of Misbah-ul-Haq. From 14 for two, they steadied the ship with a stand of 47, and Pakistan seemed to have wrested back control, particularly with Misbah adding a further 52 for the next wicket with Umar Akmal, preferred to Azhar Ali for the match.

From being in total control, Pakistan lost their way through the middle stages, Ravindra Jadeja turning in a wonderful spell of left-arm spin bowling. In the end, it came down to 23 off the last two overs, well beyond even Hafeez whose brief flurry ended when he smashed Ishant Sharma to Yuvraj Singh at midwicket, triggering delirium in the stands and overwhelming relief in the middle as Pakistan were dismissed for 157.

India brought Ajinkya Rahane in for Sehwag but the opener failed to seize his chance, falling early to Irfan. Gautam Gambhir began positively but strangely found the going difficult as he spent more time in the middle, while Kohli was all at sea against Junaid, unable to fathom which way the ball was moving and being repeatedly beaten on the outside edge and inside.

It was in the fitness of things that Junaid accounted for Kohli, eliciting an outside edge smartly taken low at second slip by Younis. By then, Gambhir had already made his way back, half-heartedly waft-swatting a short, wide delivery from Irfan and unerringly picking out the point fielder.

Yuvraj began in a blaze of boundaries but closed the bat-face in Hafeez’s first over to lose off-stump, bringing Dhoni into the middle with his team once more in deep trouble. Dhoni had come in at 29 for five in the first ODI and 70 for four in the second. This time, the scoreboard read 63 for four, and he was again required to rebuild the innings in the company of Raina. The two added 48, by some distance the highest partnership of the innings, Dhoni smashing Hafeez for two towering sixes and exhibiting the aggression he had forsaken in the previous games.

Raina took his time, content to bat in Dhoni’s shadow, and India were just about starting to get their innings back on track when the brilliance of Ajmal shone through. Ajmal has had a largely quiet tour, his three wickets in one over in Kolkata notwithstanding. With India threatening a recovery, Ajmal struck paydirt, sliding one through to trap Raina in front and then dismissing R Ashwin, also leg before, with a sharply turning offbreak the very next delivery.

As he has done throughout the series, Dhoni kept the fight going until he cut Gul hard but straight to Umar Akmal at point to be dismissed in an ODI at home for the first time in seven innings. Jadeja lashed out towards the end but without much support, India failing to bat out their 50 overs for the second time in four days.

Score Board

India won toss

India

G Gambhir c U Akmal b M Irfan 15

A M Rahane c K Akmal b M Irfan 4

V Kohli c Younis b Junaid 7

Yuvraj Singh b M Hafeez 23

S K Raina lbw b S Ajmal 31

*†M S Dhoni c U Akmal b U Gul 36

R Ashwin lbw b S Ajmal 0

R A Jadeja c U Akmal b S Ajmal 27

B Kumar lbw b S Ajmal 2

I Sharma c & b S Ajmal 5

Shami Ahmed not out 0

Extras (lb 4, w 7, nb 1, pen 5) 17

Total (all out; 43.4 overs) 167

Fall: 1-19, 2-29, 3-37, 4-63, 5-111, 6-111, 7-131, 8-141, 9-160, 10-167

Bowling: M Irfan 7-1-28-2; Junaid 9-1-17-1 (2w); U Gul 8-1-45-1 (1nb, 2w); M Hafeez 10-0-44-1 (2w); S Ajmal 9.4-1-24-5 (1w)

Pakistan

Nasir Jamshed lbw b Ashwin 34

†Kamran Akmal lbw b Kumar 0

Younis Khan b Kumar 6

*Misbah-ul-Haq c Rahane b Ashwin 39

Umar Akmal st Dhoni b Jadeja 25

Shoaib Malik lbw b Sharma 5

Mohammad Hafeez c Yuvraj b Sharma 21

Umar Gul c Jadeja b Sharma 11

Saeed Ajmal c Dhoni b S Ahmed 1

Junaid Khan run out 0

Mohammad Irfan not out 0

Extras (lb 1, w 13, nb 1) 15

Total (all out; 48.5 overs) 157

Fall: 1-3, 2-14, 3-61, 4-113, 5-119, 6-125, 7-144, 8-145, 9-145, 10-157

Bowling: Kumar 10-2-31-2 (1w); S Ahmed 9-4-23-1; Sharma 9.5-0-36-3 (1nb, 1w); Ashwin 10-1-47-2 (3w); Jadeja 10-2-19-1

Result: India won by 10 runs

Series: Pakistan won the 3-match series by 2-1

ODI debut: Shami Ahmed (India)

Man of the Match: M S Dhoni (India)

Man of the Series: Nasir Jamshed (Pakistan)

Umpires: S Asnani and B F Bowden (New Zealand). TV umpire: V A Kulkarni. Match referee: R S Mahanama (Sri Lanka)

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