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Apr 19, 2006 (Link to Scorecard)

India put on their best show today to force Pakistan to share the DLF Trophy after winning the 2nd and final ODI by 51 runs. According to the Indian Captain Rahul Dravid, the Indian team had put up a good all round show and why not electing to bat first for the consecutive time in this series, India made an imposing total of 269 and then the bowlers and the fielders worked hard to take the 10 wickets of Pakistan. The DLF Cup was played for a noble cause – played for the earthquake victims and the matches looked to have gone accordingly to a virtual script with Pakistan winning the 1st game with the Indian batting flopping and in the 2nd game, the Pakistani bowling was wayward allowing the Indian batsmen to get the regular boundaries and eventually set the match up for their bowlers.

It looked that it would always be a tough task for Pakistan to score 270 batting second on a track that was getting slower and lower. The white ball was always going to do a lot under the lights but Pakistan had to just hang in there with patience as the runs would flow with the dew effect coming in soon. India got a lucky break to begin with as Irfan Pathan got his 100th ODI wicket with a late inswinger that was sliding down the legside of Imran Farhat. The batsman wasn’t happy with that lbw decision from umpire Rudi Koertzen, it has been unfortunate that Imran Farhat who starts off playing some handsome shots never goes on to make them into big ones like what Salman Butt does. Shahid Afridi who came in at no.3 showed his weak technique to the moving delivery as he just couldn’t get his foot to the line of the ball and Irfan Pathan’s inswinger drove across like a Mercedes through the gap. Younis Khan came and went poking a well shaped outswinger from Ajit Agarkar.

Pakistan were in all sorts of trouble at 45 for 3 and after that Shoaib Malik and skipper Inzamam steadied the ship for a while before Shoaib Malik’s full blooded sweep shot off Powar was taken by an acrobatic Yuvraj Singh who dived full length to his wrong side that is the right at square leg. Ramesh Powar and Harbhajan Singh at this stage were bowling in tandem at this stage and with the ball getting wet every time it ran on the outfield, the two offies found it difficult to grip the ball and they opted to bowl it flatter and quicker. The next to fall was Mohammad Yousuf who played an uppish flick shot which was taken by a leaping Suresh Raina at short mid wicket. Skipper Inzy was there all this time knocking the ball around and getting the measure of the wicket, Kamran Akmal gave him the support for a while before getting out to a leading edge off a straighter one from Harbhajan.

Down and out at 147 for 6 in the 35th over, Razzaq was expected to come good for Pakistan. The hopes did not diminish for Pakistan yet as Inzamam and Razzaq are good finishers of a One Day match. But today Razzaq got his calculations wrong and in his 3rd ball itself he went for a big shot and played it straight to the throat of the long on fielder. Rana Naved then walked in and took some pressure of his skipper by tonking few boundaries through his sweep shots and also a massive straight six off Harbhajan. Rana Naved ofcourse got out soon looking for a big six off Irfan Pathan’s slower one. Venugopal Rao at the mid wicket boundary judged the catch to perfection and held his balance taking the catch just inches before the boundary ropes. Inzamam started to go hard at the ball at this stage and also picked up a huge six swinging Agarkar’s good length delivery into the mid wicket stands. Inzy’s innings came to a tragic end as he was backing a bit too much as Iftikhar Anjum played Agarkar straight to Dravid at short mid wicket. Dravid ran with the ball and took the bails off at the non strikers end as Inzamam gave away his attempt to get back. It was celebration time as the rest of the match was just a mere formality as India eventually won by 51 runs. For Pakistan, Inzamam worked hard for his 79 and for India it was Pathan and Powar doing the damage taking three wickets apiece.

India had got a sensible opening stand in the afternoon with Sehwag and Dravid playing the ball late and getting plenty of singles square of the wicket. Once the two openers got used to the wicket, they could step on the gas and started to play some free flowing shots. Sehwag in particular was playing superbly and he even played a handsome lofted off drive for a six off Razzaq. It was a massive start for the Indians putting on 138 runs for the 1st wicket in about 26 overs with both the openers scoring fifties. Sehwag was the man who got out not covering for the leg break from Afridi and getting out bowled. Dhoni walked in at no.3 today and he played a busy knock and very soon he scored a fifty as well. India in the slogs lost Dravid and Dhoni looking to play forcing shots off the blockhole. Rahul Dravid missed out on a well deserved hundred as he tried to put his team infront of the individual glory. Yuvraj compensated for the loss of those two wickets by playing a breezy cameo scoring a 10 ball-24 which included a pick up shot for a six. India finally ended up their 50 overs scoring 269 for the loss of 5 wickets. The total was more than enough as India went onto win this game by 51 runs. Rahul Dravid for his efforts with the bat got the Man of the Match Award and his Pakistani counterpart Inzamam got the Man of the Series for his two good knocks.
 

 

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