India 271-7 (49.5 overs) beat Pakistan 267 (49.3 overs) Asia Cup, Dambulla, Sri Lanka:

Asia Cup, Dambulla, Sri Lanka:

India 271-7 (49.5 overs) beat Pakistan 267 (49.3 overs) by three wickets

Arguably, the most exciting match of Asia Cup 2010 was the India Vs Pakistan game, which pulled up the attention of millions of supporters and fans of both the teams.

Pakistan won the toss of the match and elected to bat first.

Although, Pakistani team got a favorable start by the opening batsmen in the Ind vs Pak match, they got damaged by the bowling of India and lost some of the front-line wickets as the game progressed.

Kamran Akmal of Pakistan batted well, while skipper Shahid Afridi didn’t get his chance to take the Ind Vs Pak game by storm with his powerful shots and scored only 32.

The Indian bowlers and fielders were looking tremendously active on field.

Indian team started off their batting nicely. Although, the Indian striker Virender Sehwag was caught behind by Kamran Akmal off the bowling of Abdul Razzak, the partnership between Indian skipper Mahinder Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir took the game away from Pakistan.

Pakistani team tried to fight back and took the game till the last over past four balls of which Indian team required 3 runs from 2 balls when Harbajjan hit a six to claim victory for India.

Ind vs Pak games have always been electrifying, as the countries have been arch rivals since 1947 when both got their independence from Britain.

49.5

Mohammad Aamer to Harbhajan Singh, SIX, 128.5 kph, Bhajjiiiiiiiii! He has absolutely smoked this one. Gets a length he can get under, and hits it with the sweetest part of the bat, over midwicket. HUGE. And he roars, removes the helmet and roars. As soon as he sees he has hit it clean, he looks towards third man, where Shoaib is, and roars. It is a primal roar, what a blinder from Bhajji, Akhtar makes a V sign, and looks away. The whole team runs out to congratulate Bhaj, Raina is the first to hug him. Spare a thought for Aamer, he bowled really well until now

Hopefully Cricket Australia’s admen saw this game. There is room for 50-over game still, but if only they are scheduled well. What. A. Match. For those who had forgotten how India-Pakistan matches felt like – and I had frankly – these guys raised some hell in the sleepy Dambulla. This old dog has life in it yet. Now we can catch our collective breaths. Congratulations to both the teams for this match that went this way and that throughout close to 100 overs. There was good cricket, there were freak moments, there were nerves, there were some ordinary moments that come with nerves, and in the end a finish for the ages. If Gambhir and Dhoni and Ajmal reinforced their reputations, there were youngsters who built themselves one. Aamer and Raina were superb in the match. Never mind that six, Aamer absolutely bowled his heart out tonight, and he will walk away with three-fors and four-fors on other days with bowling worse than this. When time called for it, Raina played a superb hand, despite his obvious weakness against the short ball. But – for perspective’s sake – let’s not compare this with the Javed Mianddad- Chetan Sharma last ball. Let’s just leave that moment alone. And when you are in a fight, under pressure, do take Harbhajan Singh along. Thanks for joining us, hope you enjoyed the match as much as we did. Presentation time Gautam Gambhir is MoM “The Champions Trophy was fresh in my mind, this was payback time. Not only me, the whole team was determined to win this one. The gameplan was to have wickets in hand, not to just go bang bang. We had some big hitters to follow, we kept telling each other we need to bat as long as possible. We had Powerplay in the last 10 too. The way Bhajji and Raina finished off was great. I wan’t able to pick the spinners at all, it was impossible to pick them from the hand. The light has to improve. I didn’t see the last over, especially after Raina got out, my heart was in my mouth.” MS Dhoni “Not really, wasn’t cool today. With a match like this, especially against Pakistan, you can never be cool. Thanks to Bhajji, you can call him an allrounder now. We, the batsmen, should have finished the game. In such stages, the heartbeat goes up, and we can only give expert comments from inside. Our fast bowlers bowled well, they might have gone for runs in a couple of overs. I am pleased with them. Zaheer bowled well, Ashish though not 100% fit I am satisfied with him, Praveen as usual was street-smart, and Bhajji made up with the bat. Not the first time I have had a partnership with Gauti, from India A days in Kenya, we have had good partnerships. Under the light, it is difficult to play spinners who can turn it both ways.” Shahid Afridi “It was a great game of cricket, we all enjoyed. The way Dhoni, Gambhir, Raina and Bhajji played, it was amazing. Good entertainment as well. I just told them not to worry about anything, just to bowl in the right areas. I am quite happy with the team’s performance, and we will definitely improve.”

DAMBULLA – Scoreboard of match between India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup here Saturday.

Pakistan:

Salman Butt run out (Jadeja/Dhoni) 74

Imran Farhat c Sehwag b Harbhajan Singh 25

Shoaib Malik b Khan 39

Umar Akmal c Dhoni b Jadeja 21

Umar Amin c Kohli b Harbhajan Singh 5

Shahid Afridi lbw b Kumar 32

Kamran Akmal c Raina b Kumar 51

Abdul Razzaq c Dhoni b Kumar 3

Mohammad Aamer run out (Sharma) 3

Shoaib Akhtar not out 3

Saeed Ajmal c Nehra b Khan 0

Extras:(b-1, lb-5, w-4, nb-1) 11

Total:(all out in 49.3 overs) 267

Fall of wickets: 1-71 (Imran Farhat, 16.3 ov), 2-144 (Shoaib Malik, 28.6 ov), 3-146 (Salman Butt, 29.5 ov), 4-159 (Umar Amin, 32.4 ov), 5-196 (Umar Akmal, 37.3 ov), 6-219 (Shahid Afridi, 43.4 ov), 7-227 (Abdul Razzaq, 45.1 ov), 8-247 (Mohammad Aamer, 47.2 ov), 9-265 (Kamran Akmal, 48.3 ov), 10-267 (Saeed Ajmal, 49.3 ov)

Bowling:

Praveen Kumar 10 1 53 3

Ashish Nehra 9 0 58 0

Zaheer Khan 9.3 0 41 2

Harbhajan Singh 8 0 47 2

Virender Sehwag 3 0 19 0

Ravindra Jadeja 10 0 43 1

India:

Gautam Gambhir b Ajmal 83

Virender Sehwag c Akmal b Razzaq 10

Virat Kohli b Ajmal 18

Mahendra Singh Dhoni b Malik 56

Rohit Sharma lbw b Afridi 22

Suresh Raina run out(Akmal) 34

Ravindra Jadeja b Saeed Ajmal 6

Harbhajan Singh not out 15

Praveen Kumar not out 3

Extras: (lb-15, w-8, nb-1) 24

Total: (for seven wickets in 49.5 overs) 271

Fall of wickets: 1-47 (Sehwag, 10.2 overs), 2-82 (Kohli, 17.4), 3-180 (Gambhir, 35.4), 4-208 (Sharma, 41.2), 5-210 (Dhoni, 42.2), 6-219 (Jadeja, 45.1), 7-262 (Raina, 49.2)

Bowling:

Shoaib Akhtar 10 0 57 0

Mohammad Aamer 9.5 0 56 0

Abdul Razzaq 5 0 18 1

Saeed Ajmal 10 0 56 3

Shahid Afridi 10 0 41 1

Shoaib Malik 5 0 28 1

Toss: Pakistan, who chose to bat

Umpires: Billy Bowden (New Zealand) and Billy Doctrove (West Indies)

TV umpire: Sharfuddoula (Bangladesh)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (Zimbabwe

PREVIEW FOR THE MATCH

The best testament to the magnetic attraction of an India-Pakistan match in the current context, is that for one day, the sound of the Sri Lankan bands in the stand will drown out that of the vuvuzelas from South Africa across the subcontinent and probably across an appreciable portion of the rest of the cricket playing world.

Ordinarily of course, cricket supercedes all other sports in the subcontinent, but once every four years, it takes a back-seat to the football World Cup, but such is the aura around an India-Pakistan match, that it can trump – if for a day – even the World Cup of the most popular game in the world.

The last time the two rivals met was in the Champions Trophy, with India suffering a defeat. This is as good a time as any to turn the tables.

India won handsomely against Bangladesh, but didn’t look convincing while doing it, and they will need to be near their best to put it across Pakistan. The batting will have to lead the way, since it is by far India’s stronger suit. It will be a test though, against Pakistan’s bowling attack of Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif. All three pacers are capable of causing headaches to opposition think-tanks, and they will no doubt test the Indians with plenty of chin music, and the likes of Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina in particular, will not have a better chance than this to prove that they are not just flat-track bullies who look lost when the ball rises above waist height. And against Pakistan’s quality pace, the onus lies heavily on Sehwag and Gambhir to hit their straps and provide India with an electric start.

India’s bowling couldn’t be more in contrast with Pakistan’s though: none of their three pacers looked anywhere near menacing against Bangladesh, and against better opposition, they will need to tighten their games fast. India will rely heavily on Harbhajan Singh to control the middle overs, but it will be much easier for him to do if the pacers provide some breakthroughs up front. Virender Sehwag won them the game against Bangladesh, and while it is unlikely that he will come up with similar figures, he has made a worthwhile case for getting more opportunities with the ball. It might be worth a gamble for Dhoni and his men to drop Praveen Kumar and include either Ojha or R Ashwin, even though that will make the attack very spin heavy. But so far, spinners have not done too badly in the tournament, so it is a risk worth contemplating.

For Pakistan, they will need to get their batting sorted. They were in the hunt in the last match solely due to Afridi, but a greater team effort will be needed now. Umar Akmal showed glimpses of his potential, and will be expected to be one of the batting mainstays.

The cynosure of all eyes though, will be Akhtar. He showed good control, although he lacked his trademark explosiveness against Sri Lanka. He didn’t look particularly fit – but then again, he never has. And he was still hitting the 90s on the speed gun, so as he starts getting into match groove more, he will grow as a lethal weapon.

Pakistan fans would have also been pleased by the temperament shown by Shahid Afridi, who managed to bat responsibly without compromising on his amazing strike-rate. If captaincy ends up making Afridi a more mature batsman, Pakistan will be well served indeed.

The contest will be one between India’s batsmen and Pakistan’s bowlers, with whoever comes out on top, likely to take their team to victory.

An India-Pakistan match always has needle, but with Sri Lanka sitting pretty at the top of the table, this match will have an extra edge, for none of the teams can really afford to lose this one. The best thing about this match though, is that India are playing a sub-continental team that is neither a minnow, nor Sri Lanka.