Stung by two successive defeats, Pakistan roared backwith an inspired all-round display to thrash India by a convincing 106-runvictory in the third one-day international to keep themselves afloat in theseries today.
Salman Butt led the Pakistani renaissance with hissecond career century that propelled the visitors to a daunting 319 for nineafter Inzamam-ul Haq won his first toss of the series and elected to bat on ahard wicket that offered reliable bounce for strokeplay.
The Indian batsmen, who had been in good form in thefirst two one-dayers, were found wanting in adjusting to a track that hadrelatively better bounce and fell like nine pins to be bundled out for 213 in41.4 overs without offering a semblance of a fight.
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Man-of-the-match Rana Naved-ul Hasan found the right line and length topick up six wickets for 27, while Mohammad Sami grabbed two for 41 as the paceduo wrecked the Indian top order, reducing them to 82 for six in the 17th over.
With this emphatic victory, Pakistan have now reducedthe margin to 1-2 and both the teams will now move to Ahmedabad for the fourthone-dayer to be played on April 12.
How much the hosts have come to rely on Virender Sehwagin recent times was evident today as once the cavalier batsman returned to thepavilion, the rest followed him back in a procession.
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Sachin Tendulkar was drawn to a ball on the corridor of uncertainty and RahulDravid was consumed by a real snorter of a delivery from Sami.
The new whizkid, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, failed to repeathis Vizag exploits but more worrying for the team must be the continuing badpatch of pacer Irfan Pathan.
Pathan, coming in place of Lakshmipathy Balaji, wentfor 67 runs in 8.2 overs and suffered the ignominy of being taken off the attackfor bowling two beamers in the 44th over of the Pakistan innings.
Pathan made a consolatory 66 with the bat and his61-run stand with Mohammad Kaif (32) brought down the margin of defeat.
Butt, who had scored a fine hundred in the BCCIPlatinum Jubilee one-dayer in Kolkata, slammed a well-paced 101 from 116 ballsthat formed the fulcrum of the visitors' innings.
Pakistan continued to try out different battingcombinations and while Shahid Afridi flopped once again at the top, thepromotion of all-rounder Shoaib Malik paid dividends as the batsman struck abelligerent half century that seemed to completely leave the Indians in a daze.
Malik made 75 from 79 balls with seven fours and twosixes, and added 145 runs with Butt in 25.4 overs for the second wicket.
Skipper Inzamam-ul Haq (23) played a brief little cameo that was even moreentertaining but more substantial was Yousuf Youhana's contribution of 43 thatconsumed only 31 balls and was studded with six fours.
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It was then the turn of the Indians to go on someleather hunt.
Ashish Nehra could hold his head high with figures of3-57 but Pathan had a nightmarish day in office.
Pathan conceded 57 runs from 8.2 overs and had anignominous end when he was taken off the bowling after he bowled two beamers inthe 44th over.
Captain Saurav Ganguly had also the bother of a slowover rate with the Indians needing nearly 30 minutes more to complete theirquota.
The Pakistani openers began with oodles of confidenceagainst the Indian new-ball bowlers Pathan and Nehra with the flamboyant Afridiexecuting several wonderful strokes.
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Afridi (17), however, did not last long. He perished inthe sixth over, trying to slash a rising delivery from Nehra outside theoff-stump, and of the outside edge Dravid took the catch at first slip.
This brought in the left hand-right combination of Butt and Malik who repairedthe damage caused by Afridi's cheap dismissal and laid a solid foundation for agood total.
The Sialkot-born Malik, who played a fluent knock,brought up the 50 of the innings in the ninth over with a four off Pathan.
The 100 of the innings came in 20 overs, and a littlelater Butt cut Harbhajan Singh to third man and ran a single to complete histhird half-century in 15 ODIs. The milestone was reached in 60 balls, with sixhits to the fence.
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The stand was worth a hundred in the 26th over whenButt pushed Harbhajan to short cover for a single.
Malik got to his 12th 50 in 96 matches in the next overand then decided to cut loose.
Tendulkar came in for some punishment with Malikdispatching him over the mid-wicket fence for the first six of the day. The overcost 12 runs, and Malik continued in the same vein taking another six off Sehwagin the next over through the same region.
But Sehwag took revenge in his very next over, whenMalik went for a pull and ended up in the hands of Tendulkar near the deep mid-wicketboundary.
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PTI
