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Apr 18, 2006 (Link to Scorecard)

Pakistan took the 1st ODI of the 2-ODIs Series of the DLF Cup with a six-wicket win. Chasing a moderate target of 198, Pakistanis were made to work hard to get to the target. Younis Khan who stood as a rock saw them through with his neat innings of 71 not out. Pakistan to begin with had a nice start of 42 for the 1st wicket between Imran Farhat and Shoaib Malik. Imran Farhat was infact bowled by the ball of the match with Ajit Agarkar bowling a quick late inswinging yorker to disturb the furniture of the batsman. Although India removed the two openers within the 15 overs, they could never really come back into the game as Inzamam along with Younis made sure that Pakistan was always in control of the chase.

Younis Khan and Inzamam put on 86 runs for the 3rd wicket before Inzamam fell attempting to blast Powar out of the park and eventually falling to the man at long on. After Inzamam’s exit, Mohammad Yousuf was removed by a beautiful outswinger from Agarkar to stretch the match further. Kamran Akmal who came in ahead of Afridi and Razzaq gave Younis the company and finished off the match with a leg glance to fine leg off Sreesanth. Younis Khan in his innings of 71 not out also hit the first and only six off this match by sweeping Harbhajan to the mid wicket region. For India, Ajit Agarkar was the pick of the bowlers taking 2 for 33 in his 10 overs quota. Sreesanth and Ramesh Powar chipped in with a wicket each.

It was India’s poor batting show in the afternoon that led to their defeat in the end. After winning the toss and electing to bat first, India got off to a sedate start from Robin Uthappa and Rahul Dravid. Uthappa was out looking to force the pace in the game and Dravid was out through a needless run out going for the 2nd run and finding himself short of the crease. For India, Dravid’s was the big wicket as he was the man who could adapt to different kinds of pitch conditions. Yuvraj flopped for once and the responsibility fell on the young shoulders of Raina and Venugopal Rao. The pair had done well to add 64 runs before Raina fell chipping it straight to mid wicket. After Raina’s fall, Venugopal Rao carried the innings and remained not out till the end scoring his maiden fifty. India in the end were bundled out for 197. For Pakistan, Shoaib Malik bowled well picking up 3 wickets for just 41 in his 10 overs. Malik was partly responsible for the downfall of the Indian batsmen as he kept on sticking to a leg stump line for the right handers from round the stumps. And one of his wickets included that of Dhoni’s and the Indian wicket keeper was yorked by the offspinner.

Younis Khan for guiding Pakistan through to victory got the Man of the Match award and now its all over to the 2nd One dayer of this series that would be tomorrow. Pakistan are in the comfort zone having won today’s game. We will have to see if India can pull their socks up and draw this series.
 

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