COCHIN, April 2: Powered by contrasting centuries by Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid and backed up by Sachin Tendulkar’s five wickets India scored a comfortable 87-run win in the first ODI against Pakistan on Saturday.
Pakistan were never in the hunt after set an imposing target of 282 apart from a brief flurry by the openers and were bowled out for 194 in 45.2 overs.
Sehwag resuscitated India in the company of the redoubtable Dravid after a calamitous start; their 201-run partnership for the third wicket came at a run-a-ball and it was the platform on which India built what eventually proved match-winning total.
Dravid, defying stifling heat and humidity, meticulously compiled his ninth ODI century and predictably his efforts made for a stark contrast to those of Sehwag.
With 544 runs in the Test series just gone, Pakistan would have been happy, you feel, to see the back of Sehwag.
Yet, in continuing a trend begun last year during his monumental 309 in Multan and continued through this series, they inexcusably dropped him twice before he reached double figures — including off the very first ball of the match by Mohammad Hafeez at point.
When Sehwag flicked Sami to midwicket for four in the third over, he hinted at what was to follow. His first fifty was somewhat laboured by his own standards coming off 55 balls in the 23rd over in comparison to the second.
Thereafter, he became much more aggressive hitting Shahid Afridi inside out over cover for six soon after and then dismissively dispatching Sami off his hips for four more in the 30th over.
When Sehwag reached his century in the 32nd over, he had faced 84 balls; his second fifty coming in 29 deliveries.
Dravid meanwhile was stealth to Sehwag’s bravado, nudging singles and indefatigably running doubles in a 139-ball 104 that contained only six boundaries.
But on either side of the partnership, India after winning the toss was fragile. A shaky start had seen Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly fall off successive balls to Naved in the second over.
Tendulkar fell first to an ungainly, half-hearted pull and Ganguly, under pressure over both form and captaincy, bowled embarrassingly round his legs.
Then after Sehwag was bowled by Abdul Razzaq in the 37th over, with the score at 205, India’s drive withered.
Dravid tired and against some intelligent spin bowling from Arshad Khan, India scored only a further 76 runs in 13 overs. Arshad ended with four wickets.
With seemingly nothing in the pitch and a deep batting line, Pakistan were given a stirring start by Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal.
The first over saw nine runs, Salman pushing a deliciously timed four straight down the ground, before flicking the ball through point for another.
When Akmal unfurled his square cuts, at 45-0 in the seventh over, the target looked decidedly attainable.
But three wickets in three overs, two to Lakshmipathy Balaji, and all three to injudicious shots, turned the game on its head.
When Zaheer Khan conjured a magical, instinctive return catch to dismiss Yousuf Youhana and leave Pakistan 64-4 in the 13th over, the game was almost up.
Captain Inzamamul Haq offered the briefest glimmer of hope. When he was bowled by a quicker ball from Tendulkar in the 26th over with the score 112, the game, as Ganguly admitted later, was over bar the shouting.
Almost irrelevantly, Tendulkar contrived to pick up five wickets for the second time in his career; the first had also been here against Australia in 1998.
Razzaq’s flailing slog-sweep top-edged to short fine leg exemplified Pakistan’s ineptitude with the bat.
Scoreboard
INDIA:
V. Sehwag b Razzaq
108
S.R. Tendulkar c Youhana b Naved
4
S.C. Ganguly b Naved
0
R. Dravid run out
104
Yuvraj Singh c Salman b Arshad
16
Mohammad Kaif c Afridi b Arshad
7
M.S. Dhoni c Naved b Arshad
3
Harbhajan Singh not out
14
L. Balaji b Arshad
0
Zaheer Khan not out
2
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-5, W-13, NB-1)
23
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs)
281
DID NOT BAT: A. Nehra.
FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-4, 3-205, 4-241, 5-255, 6-260, 7-265, 8-269.
BOWLING: Mohammad Sami 8-1-42-0 (3w); Rana Navedul Hasan 8-0-38-2
(1nb, 2w); Abdul Razzaq 8.3-1-50-1 (1w); Shahid Afridi 10-0-50-0 (1w);
Mohammad Hafeez 9.3-0-59-0; Arshad Khan 6-0-33-4 (6w).
PAKISTAN:
Salman Butt c Ganguly b Nehra
26
Kamran Akmal c Sehwag b Balaji
17
Shoaib Malik c Yuvraj b Balaji
4
Yousuf Youhana c and b Zaheer
0
Inzamamul Haq b Tendulkar
37
Mohammad Hafeez c Nehra b Tendulkar
42
Abdul Razzaq c Sehwag b Tendulkar
5
Shahid Afridi c Zaheer b Tendulkar
8
Mohammad Sami c and b Tendulkar
2
Rana Navedul Hasan b Zaheer
25
Arshad Khan not out
14
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-3, NB-7)
14
TOTAL (all out, 45.2 overs)
194
FALL OF WKTS: 1-45, 2-49, 3-49, 4-64, 5-112, 6-129, 7-146, 8-151,
9-152
