Lahore, March 24
Shrugging off the tag of “chokers”, India rewrote history by winning their first-ever series in Pakistan after beating back a late charge by the home side in the decisive fifth one-dayer here tonight to the joy of their delirious supporters who set off fireworks.

The 40-run win that gave India the “fancied” series 3-2 was built on a wristy 107 by V.V.S. Laxman, followed by another brilliant bowling display by left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan (3/32) who helped reduce the home side to 96 for six at one stage. A fightback by wicketkeeper Moin Khan, who made 72, and Shoaib Malik (65) was not enough for their team to overtake India’s 293 for seven and the home side were all out for 253 in the 48th over.

Never before have India won a one-day, or for that matter a Test series, in Pakistan. They had lost all the five previous series of the game’s shorter version in this country and their facile win before a packed Gaddafi Stadium was a sweet triumph.

In contrast to the first four thrilling matches of the series which was tied 2-2, tonight’s decider was in sharp contrast, with India, having been put in, notching up 293 and then holding the upper hand throughout except when Moin and Malik put on a brave 99 runs for the seventh wicket.

The Indians put in an inspired bowling performance to rip through the Pakistani batting line-up which could never really recover from the early jolts inflicted by Irfan Pathan and L Balaji.

Balaji fired the first salvo by evicting the in-form Yasir Hameed in his very first over, dislodging the opener’s off-stump with a gem of an in-cutter.

The young Pathan then brought the spotlight on himself by sending back the experienced Yousuf Youhana for just one, trapping him lbw to reduce the home team to a precarious nine for two by the third over.

The visitors tightened the noose three overs later when the left-handed Pathan got rid of opener Taufeeq Umar, who came into the team in place of Shahid Afridi. Umar misjudged the line of a sharp delivery and saw his stumps being knocked down for 18.

Captain Inzamam-ul Haq, later declared man-of-the-series, and Younis Khan tried to salvage the situation for their team by playing cautiously against the charged up Indian pacemen who bowled a tidy line and length.

But Pathan struck again by claiming the wicket of Younis Khan (12) with Yuvraj Singh latching on to a smart catch, allowing the Indians to take a tight control of the proceedings.

With the hosts reeling at 58 for four by the 13th over, it was left to Inzamam, who had hit two centuries in the previous matches of this high-profile series, to pull the team out of the pits and the burly captain seemed to be in no discomfort as he went about the task of rebuilding the innings with a cool head.

Inzamam curbed his attacking instincts and was quite content in keeping the scoreboard ticking with singles but as a result the asking rate kept mounting.

The Pakistan captain and Shoaib Malik put on 29 runs for the fifth wicket before left-arm spinner Murali Kartik claimed the prized scalp of Inzamam.

The right-handed Inzamam tried to lift Kartik out of the ground but Sachin Tendulkar latched on to a brilliant catch just a few inches inside the boundary line at the long on fence. He scored a 51-ball 38 which contained five boundaries.

All-rounder Abdul Razzaq (5) also could not hang around for long, falling prey to Balaji as he returned for the seocnd spell from the far end.

Then came the most productive period for the home team as Shoaib Malik and Moin Khan raised hopes of a spirited fightback with a 99-run seventh wicket partnership.

As the evening progressed, the dew made it difficult for the bowlers to grip the ball. Both Malik and Moin took advantage of the situation and played some attacking shots in a bid to accelerate the pace of scoring as the run rate had climbed to more than seven runs at that stage.

Part-timer Virender Sehwag finally brought the flourishing partnership to an end by scalping Malik for 65 which came off 89 balls.

Moin and Mohammed Sami kept up the run chase with a rollicking 52-run partnership, making the visitors a little panicky, but it was too uphill a task by then.

Earlier, put in to bat after Inzamam won the toss for the fifth time in a row, VVS Laxman, awarded man-of-the-match, marked his return to form with a scintillating 104-ball 107 to propel India to a competitive 293 for seven which also saw some lusty hittings by the tailenders.

The stylish Laxman, who did not have a big score to his credit in the three earlier matches, notched up his sixth one-day century, his fourth this year, as he paced his innings brilliantly after the visitors lost both their openers Sehwag and Tendulkar rather early.

Captain Sourav Ganguly was the second highest scorer with 45 but it was the late charge by Pathan (20 off 12) and Balaji (10 off 6) which gave some respectability to the Indian total.

Scoreboard

India:

Sehwag c Moin b Shabbir 20

Tendulkar c Moin b Sami 37

Laxman c Sami b Malik 107

Ganguly c Moin b Shoaib 45

Dravid b Sami 4

Yuvraj c Inzamam b Shabbir 18

Kaif c Umer b Sami 16

Pathan not out 20

Balaji not out 10

Extras: 16

Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 293

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-79, 3-171, 4-183, 5-227, 6-253, 7-276.

Bowling: Shoaib 10-1-47-1, Shabbir 10-1-56-2, Sami 10-1-63-3, Razzaq 10-0-54-0, Malik 10-0-67-1.

Pakistan:

Hameed b Balaji 2

Umar b Pathan 18

Youhana lbw b Pathan 1

Haq c Tendulkar b Kartik 38

Y Khan c Yuvraj b Pathan 12

Malik c Kaif b Sehwag 64

Razzaq c Sehwag b Balaji 5

Moin b Balaji 72

Sami b Zaheer 23

Akhtar run out 2

Ahmed not out 1

Extras: 15

Total: (all out) 253

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-9, 3-25, 4-58, 5-87, 6-96, 7-195, 8-248, 9-250.