What better start would have India asked for than this. India won the opening match against rivals Pakistan in an emphatic fashion & Dhoni & his boys scripted a well designed victory.
Winning the toss is not in one’s control but winning a game surely is. Pakistan won the toss & elected to bat on what looked like a batting paradise. Surely Pakistan would have hoped to set a huge total on this wicket & apply pressure on the Indian batting line up. However thing did not go as planned for Pakistan- they lost their opener Kamran Akmal cheaply. Salman Butt showed some poise & provided a good start to the innings along with vice captain Younis Khan.
The brakes were applied by the Indian spinners & the slowness of the wicket took its toll on the Pakistani batsman. Younis Khan struggled to get going & Salman Butt perished in a run-out after a well made 50. Md Yousuf played an excellent knock of 83 & provided solidity to the Pakistan middle order. Shahid Afridi & Misbah came good with the bat in the end & helped Pakistan reach a total of 239 in 50 overs.
Indian spinners Harbhajan & Kartik topped the bowling the bowling charts in terms of low economy rates & helped restrict Pakistan to a modest total.
The Indian innings was always going to be crucial. Like in mentioned in my pre-series analysis, this fate of this series rests on Indian batting & Pakistani bowling. If either of these departments fire, the outcome will be pretty evident.
Indian batting got off to a shaky start when pace spearhead Shoaib Akhtar dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in the third over. Then Pakistan paved the way for an excellent partnership between Ganguly & Gambhir when Gambhir was dropped in consecutive balls of Shoaib Akhtar. This for me was the turning point. Pakistan never looked like winning once this partnership started to flourish.
Later in the innings, Indian captain Dhoni (63) & vice captain Yuvraj (58) took away the game completely from Pakistan. The Indians looked determined with the bat & did not give any opportunity for the opposition bowlers to take their wickets. India coasted to the target with 5 wickets & 3 overs to spare.
Clearly the momentum is with India now after this splendid win over Pakistan. The teams now move over to Mohali to play a day-night game on 8th.
Lets hope the matches in the future are more competitive than being one sided affairs.
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