M A I N   N E W S

Pakistan put India on mat to wrap up ODI series 4-2
M.S. Unnikrishanan

New Delhi, April 17
Pakistan inflicted a crushing 159-run defeat on India in the sixth and final One-Day International (ODI) match at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here today to wrap up the series 4-2.

Pakistan won the toss and batted first to make 303 for eight in 50 overs on a pitch which was perceived to be "underprepared". But the Pakistan batsmen found the pitch quite playable to post a challenging total which proved to be beyond the reach of the famed Indian batting lineup.

The Indian batsmen failed to show any application and folded up in abject surrender to be dismissed for 144 in 37 overs off 156 minutes.The match was held up for about 16 minutes when India tottered at 94 for 6. Though the game resumed after the security forces read out the riot act, India could not salvage it, and surrendered meekly.

Pakistan, thus, settled an old score, for being humbled at their own backyard by India in both the Test and ODI series when they resumed the cricket ties.

Inzamam-ul-Haq received a gold-plated conical trophy while the visitors also swept the Man of the Match and the Man of the Series awards. Shoaib Malik, who cracked 72 runs off 87 balls with eight boundaries today, was adjudged the Man of the Match while Naved-ul-Hasan, who had a series haul of 19 wickets, was named the Man of the Series.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh witnessed the match for over an hour in the morning, after the teams were introduced to the dignitaries. President Musharraf exchanged small talk with every player, and then waved at the crowd, with Dr Manmohan Singh following suit.

Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss and made first use of the wicket, which held out good till the premature end of the Indian innings.

Pakistan retained the same team that won the fifth ODI at Kanpur while India brought in Ajit Agarkar for Laxmipathi Balaji and Ashish Nehra for Anil Kumble. The Indian choices, particularly that of Agarkar, were perplexing and Nehra's opening over, which cost 22 runs, was in fact the turning point of the match.

India were undid by the failure of their top-order batsmen, particularly Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, and Rahul Dravid to stay put, and the other batsmen just folded up like a pack of cards.

The Indian team floated around like a rudderless ship, with their bowling and batting not coming upto expectation.

Sehwag, who was lucky to receive an early reprieve when umpire A V Jayaprakash ruled Naved-ul Hasan's second ball of the first over 'wide' after the batsman was cupped at mid-wicket, did not last long as his slash off Naved ended in Afridi's hands, with the Indian total at 31. Sachin

Tendulkar, who did his best to give the strike to Sehwag, and found the going tough with the ball keeping low, became a bat-pad victim to Rana Iftekhar Anjum while captain Rahul Dravid was run out by a brilliant throw from Yousuf Youhana at mid-on.

Dravid had survived a caught and bowled chance off Iftekhar two balls after Sachin's exit. Yuvraj Singh came, hit a couple of pleasing boundaries, before being run out. Wicket-keeper Mahinder Singh Dhoni, after making 24, existed to leave India struggling at 5 for 93.

The rest was a mere formality as Pakistan mopped up the tail, albeit after some resistance by Harbhajan Singh, who remained not out on 20.

The visitors got off to a rollicking start when Shahid Afridi cut loose to take 22 runs off Ashish Nehra after Zaheer Khan had bowled a tidy opening over.

Nehra did not know what hit him after he beat Afridi with his very first ball. But Afridi quickly sorted him out by blasting the next ball to the leg boundary. The third and fourth balls were also despatched to the ropes while the fifth delivery was hoisted between the mid-wicket and long-on boundary for a huge six. The sixth one was carted to square leg to demoralise Nehra and the die was cast, though Nehra had the last laugh, taking Afridi's wicket.

Though Salman Butt and Afridi left with in the space of 40 runs, Shoaib Malik and Younis Yohana dropped anchor to play dynamic knocks to push up the scoring rate, which was further consolidated by captain Inzamum-ul-Haq, till he was wrongly given out, and Younis Khan.

Zaheer Khan bowled with a tight line and length in his initial overs though he erred in his last couple of overs.

Harbhajan Singh fully exploited the low bounce to keep the batsmen tied up and curtailed the scoring rate, though with the introduction of Ajit Agarkar, the run-rate got yet another boost.

India were keen to give a nice parting gift to coach John Wright as this tie was his swang song, after a five-year-long tenure with the Indian team as coach. He will be returning home to join his kids, and India are now scouting around for a new foreign coach.

Scoreboard

Pakistan:

Butt c Sehwag b Zaheer 3

Afridi c Dhoni b Nehra 44

Shoaib Malik b Agarkar 72

Youhana run out 50

Inzamam c Dhoni b Agarkar 68

Younis c and b Nehra 40

Razzaq c Sehwag b Nehra 0

Akmal b Agarkar 5

Naveed-ul Hasan not out 9

Extras (lb-5, w-7) 12

Total (for 8 wkts in 50 overs) 303 Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-68, 3-153, 4-191, 5-282, 6-282, 7-294, 8-303.

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 10-0-65-1, Ashish Nehra 10-0-72-3, Ajit Agarkar 9-0-58-3, Harbhajan Singh 9-0-39-0, Dinesh Mongia 7-0-40-0, Sachin Tendulkar 5-0-24-0.

India:

Sehwag c Afridi b Hasan 21

Tendulkar b Anjum 9

Dhoni c Afridi b Arshad 24

Dravid run out 19

Yuvraj run out 13

Kaif lbw b Razzaq 4

Mongia c Younis b Arshad 0

Agarkar c Youhana b Afridi 16

Harbhajan not out 20

Zaheer c Younis b Arshad 7

Nehra c sub (Hafeez) b Afridi 1

Extras (b-5, lb-1, nb-3, w-1) 10 Total (all out in 37 overs) 144

Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-36, 3-54, 4-84, 5-93, 6-94, 7-94, 8-129, 9-139

Bowling: Rana Naved-ul-Hasan 6-0-28-1, Rao Iftikhar Anjum 7-0-32-1, Abdul Razzaq 9-1-33-1, Arshad Khan 10-1-33-3, Shahid Afridi 4-10-10-2, Shoaib Malik 1-0-2-0.