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LAHORE: India scored its
first ever one day series victory in Pakistan by 3-2 beating
the hosts by 40 runs in the fifth and deciding one day, day
and night international here at Gadaffi stadium on Wednesday.
India, put into bat by the
home captain, Inzamam ul Haq who won the toss for the fifth
time in a row , helped by sterling (107) by Venkatsai Laxman
reached 293 for 7 in allotted 50 overs and bowled out Pakistan
at 254 in 47.5 overs.
Indian pacers duo of Irfan
Pathan and Laxmipathy Balaji ripped through Pakistani batting
which proved a house of card. Pathan finished with three for
32 and Balaji took three wickets for 62 runs.
India won the opening match
at Karachi by 5 runs and Pakistan won two back to back matches
at Rawalpindi by 12 runs and at Peshawar by 4 wickets. India
won the fourth match at Lahore by 5 wickets to lock the series
at 2-2.
Keeper Moin Khan struck
fighting (72) and Shoaib Malik hit useful (65) as Pakistans
late middle order batsmen geared up a brave come back after
the failure of top batting.
Both of them put up 99 runs
for the 7th wicket followed by 53 runs partnership of 8th
wicket in which Moin joined Muhammad Sami (23). Moin slammed
one six and five fours off 71 balls and Malik hit three
boundaries and one six from 89 runs.
Apart from these two notable
scorers rest of the home batsmen lacked spirit to defy an
inexperienced Indian attack and frustrated a large gathering
by bowing down to the pressure.
Pakistan were off to a
nightmare start losing first two wickets at a grand total of
mere Nine runs with Yasir Hameed making (2) and vice captain
Yousaf Youhana continuing his poor form with just one run. At
25, Pakistan's third wicket of opener Taufeeq Umar (18) fell
and after the departure of Younis Khan (12) Pakistan slumped
to 58 for 4 in 12.1 overs and then onward never recovered.
Shaken by Indian bowlers,
the home batsmen found it hard to maintain the required run
rate and Indians gradually took control to walk on the victory
path.
Pakistan's main hope, inform
Inzamam (38) with five fours also disappointed failing to pump
in needed force for a six caught at mid on boundaries by
Tendulkar off spinner Kartik and Pakistan were in gloom at 87
for 5 and suffered another set back losing Abdul Razzaq (5) at
96.
Earlier Laxman hit his 6th
triple figure in his 72 one day internationals and top scored
from the Indian side which saw the failure of its super stars
like Sachin Tandulkar, Rahul Dravid and opener Virender
Sehwag.
India, who were struggling
at 34 for 1 and 79 for 2, were placed at a good position when
Laxman and skipper Ganguly shared 92 runs for the 3rd wicket
in 111 balls . Sehwag made (20) and Tendulkar who at one stage
looked well set for maintaining a flow of runs fell at (37)
after hitting seven fours off Sami.
The stand was broken at 171
by speedster Shoaib Akhtar who removed Ganguly (45) caught by
keeper Moin. He hit five fours off 64 balls. Dravid made (4)
and Yuvraj Singh (18) and India fell at 227 for 5.
Laxman who got a new life
line when dropped at 52 by Taufeeq Umar at mid wicket went on
to support the side batting with greater responsibility,
smashing 11 fours off 104 balls. Laxman was the 6th batsman
out at 253 when Sami held an easy catch at covers when the
batsman mistimed off spinner Shoaib Malik.
Muhammad Kaif known for his
fire work batting display fell cheaply making (16) to Sami who
finished as the most successful bowler, taking three wickets
for 63 runs. Shabbir Ahmad took two wickets for 56 runs.
It was India first one-day
series in Pakistan after being unsuccessful during the
previous five encounters in 1978, 1982, 1984, 1989 and 1997.
Daughter of the founder of
Pakistan and Father of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali
Jinnah, Mrs Dina Wadia witnessed the fifth and deciding one
day international between Pakistan and India at Gaddafi
stadium. President General Pervez
Musharraf also watched some parts of the Indian innings and was
received by the Chairman, Pakistan Cricket Board, Shaharyar M
Khan at the stadium.
Ganguly suffers back
injury
Earlier, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly suffered a back injury
during the fifth and deciding one day international against
Pakistan, raising doubts about his availability for the first
test being played from Sunday in Multan.
Ganguly hurt his lower
back when he made an acrobatic effort to stop a drive from
Pakistani skipper, Inzamam and was taken off the filed on a
stretcher.
Indian team manager in a
statement said "Ganguly was in intense pain and would take a
few days to recover and he was under treatment by the team
physio Andrew Leipus".
Scorecard
INDIA
V. Sehwag c Moin b Shabbir Ahmed 20
S. Tendulkar c Moin b Mohammad Sami 37
V. Laxman c Sami b Shoaib Malik 107
S. Ganguly c Moin b Shoaib Akhtar 45
R. Dravid b Mohammad Sami 4
Y. Singh c Inzamam b Shabbir Ahmed 18
Mohammad Kaif c Umer b Mohammad Sami 16
Irfan Pathan not out 20
Laxmipathy Balaji not out 10
Extras b2, lb4, nb5, w5 16
Total 293
Fall of wickets 1-34,
2-79, 3-171, 4-183, 5-227, 6-253, 7-276
Bowling Shoaib Akhtar 10-1-47-1, Shabbir Ahmed 10-1-56-2
Mohammad Sami 10-1-63-3, Abdul Razzaq 10-0-54-0 Shoaib Malik
10-0-67-1
PAKISTAN
Yasir Hameed b Balaji 2
Taufiq Umer b Pathan 18
Yousuf Youhana lbw b Pathan 1
Inzamam-ul Haq c Tendulkar b Kartik 38
Younis Khan c Yuvraj b Pathan 12
Shoaib Malik c Kaif b Sehwag 65
Abdul Razzaq c Sehwag b Balaji 5
Moin Khan b Balaji 72
Mohammad Sami b Zaheer 23
Shoaib Akhtar run out 2
Shabbir Ahmed not out 1
Extras b2, lb5, nb3, w4 14
Total 253
Fall of wickets 1-8, 2-9,
3-25, 4-58, 5-87, 6-96, 7-195, 8-248, 9-250
Bowling Pathan 10-2-32-3, Balaji 9.5-0-62-3, Zaheer 9-0-54-1
Kartik 10-0-42-1, Tendulkar 5-0-27-0, Sehwag 4-0-29-1
India won by 40 runs to take the series 3-2
Toss: Pakistan
Umpires: David Shepherd (ENG), Nadeem Ghauri (PAK)
TV umpire: Zamir Haider (PAK)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)
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