In a pride-restoring win, India thumped Pakistan by seven wickets today to level the one-day series and register their first win of the current tour.
India's bowlers, mauled by the host side batsmen, set the stage for the victory by restricting Pakistan to 265, a totalthe Indian batsmen easily overhauled with solid contributions from Yuvraj Singh (82 not out), Virender Sehwag (67) and Rahul Dravid (56).
India outplayed Pakistan thoroughly to record their first triumph on the tour in 38 days. Set to score 266 for a win, the tourists rode on splendid top-order batting display to canter to a win and silence the capacity crowd which saw the drift of the game quite early and started leaving.
It was sweet revenge for the tourists who had been beaten 1-0 in the three-Test series held prior to the five-match one-day rubber and also enabled India to draw level 1-1 with three matches to go.
A rollicking century stand (105) for the first wicket between the master and pupil pair of Sachin Tendulkar (42 in 43 balls with 8 fours) andSehwag (67 in 60 balls with ten fours and a six) put India firmly on the road to their first win since their arrival here on January 5.
After the duo's departure in the space of 12 balls and 18 runs, skipper Dravid andthe in-form Yuvraj ensured that the brilliant work of the openers did not go waste.
The pair put on 118 runs for the third wicket in 128 balls to guide the hosts to their first victory over their arch rivals after five straight losses, going back to the last series held in India in 2005. The last win had come in Vishakapatnam in April.
Dravid hit five fours in his 61-ball stay before departing when his team needed only 25 more runs. He was caught and bowled by Shoaib Malik in the 39th over, the ball stopping a bit on the batsman.