Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni once again proved the importance of younger players in one and T20 matches when the Team India with an average age of nearly 24 thumped Pakistan by a record margin of 140 runs in the Kitply Trangular Trophy being played in Bangladesh. The 21-year-old Praveen Kumar continued from where he finished in the CBA series in Australia to impress with the new ball in Dhaka.
This was India’s biggest margin of victory by runs against Pakistan. Though it was a team effort, India owes the victory mainly to five players. Virender Sehwag(89), Gautam Gambhir(62), Yuvraj Singh(55), Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla.
Pakistan, chasing 331, were undone by Praveen’s opening spell of four for 42, slipping to 81 for four by the 13th over. They were bowled out for 190 in only 35.4 overs, with leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (4 for 40) running through the tail.
The Indian bowlers were ably supported by their fielders. The first wicket, of Salman Butt, fell after Rohit Sharma pulled off a brilliant catch at short point.
Rohit’s effort was yet another example of the importance of having fresh legs in the outfield.
Earlier, Delhi mates Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir put on a century partnership of 155 in 21.3 overs to lay the foundation of a massive total.
Man of the match Sehwag, the oldest of the lot at 29 years and 265 days, (89, 76b, 13×4, 1×6) was cautious to begin with, allowing the in-form Gambhir (62, 62b, 6×4) to dictate.
Gambhir was dropped twice by Younis Khan at slip, on 4 and 29. At the other end, boundaries poured at Sehwag’s will.
Pakistan’s choice of four medium-pacers, adding Rao Iftikhar to their attack at left-arm spinner Fawad Alam’s expense, bore no fruit.
Sehwag, too, was lucky when Kamran Akmal floored an outside edge off Iftikhar when he was on 43.
Unperturbed, Sehwag carried on with the carnage. Left-arm medium-pacer Wahab Riaz, who impressed against Bangladesh two nights ago, could do precious little after breaking the opening partnership, removing Gambhir and Sehwag off successive overs, bounce doing the trick.
Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir made the most of some sloppy catching, getting within four runs of India’s highest opening stand against Pakistan, before Yuvraj Singh raised visions of a 375-plus total. They settled for 330 but that didn’t matter in the final analysis. Once Pakistan crumbled to 26 for 3, it was only a case of picking up the pieces.
A run-rate of 6.6 is impressive in all conditions but the fact that India kept it up on a sluggish pitch that offered some assistance to the medium-pacers added more gloss to the effort. Their fifty came up as early as the seventh over but Pakistan’s four-pronged pace attack didn’t start as badly as the run-rate suggested. They troubled the batsmen with swing and seam and even managed the edge on a few occasions but they were let down by poor fielding. Younis Khan allowed Gambhir two lives – on 4 and 29 – with identical edges flying past him at second slip and Kamran Akmal let off Sehwag on 43 when he lost control of the ball after appearing to have snared an edge to his right.
Sehwag, who walked all the way back to the boundary before returning, made the most of his good fortune, racing to his first fifty in a year. He was dropped for the final stages of India’s CB Series but an injury to Sachin Tendulkar allowed him another chance. He wasn’t his customary buccaneering self, and that was probably because of the nature of the surface, but he continuously peppered the region behind square. Preferring to use the pace of the bowlers, he walked across and whipped a few off his pads while settling for the judicious glide on other occasions.
It was Riaz again who was the centre of attention at the death when he was removed from the attack for bowling his second full toss above the waist.
It was not understandable why Yusuf Pathan was sent at number four when more reputed batsmen were waiting in the dressing room. The momentum was lost for a brief period as the debutant half-brother of Irfan Pathan, making it a rare case of brothers playing in the same ODI for India, looked lost in his maiden visit at this level. He did not last long either as did Rohit Sharma before Yuvraj Singh’s swashbuckling 54-ball 55 (3×4, 3×6) and Dhoni’s cameo brought India back on track.
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