Kanpur: India vice-captain Yuvraj Singh played a dominating knock of 77 runs and took one wicket to guide India to a 46-run victory against Pakistan in the third One-Day International here at the Green Park Stadium on Sunday. Put into bat by the visitors, Yuvraj, who was adjudicated the man of the match, hit the ball hard for the big shots along with aggressive running between the wickets to guide India to a competitive total of 294 for 6.
In reply Pakistan folded up for 248 in 47.2 overs.
The left-handed batsman, who was in devastating form, sent the visitors on a leather hunt and then bowled well to help India take a 2-1 lead in the five-match ODI series.
He also shared a solid 100-run partnership with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who hit a cavalier 49 off 52 balls.
In reply Pakistan folded up for 248 in 47.2 overs.
The left-handed batsman, who was in devastating form, sent the visitors on a leather hunt and then bowled well to help India take a 2-1 lead in the five-match ODI series.
He also shared a solid 100-run partnership with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who hit a cavalier 49 off 52 balls.
For Pakistan, the highlight of the day was Salman Butt’s sparkling innings of 129 runs from 142 balls studded with 17 fours. But it couldn’t translate into a win as Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Butt fought a lone battle on his way to his 4th ODI century against India playing some fine strokes in the process but he didn’t get enough support at the other end.
In company of Misbah-ul-Haq, he tried to keep his team in the hunt by sharing a solid 80-run partnership but the required run-rate kept on mounting.
The loss of three top-order batsmen – Afridi, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf – pushed Pakistan on the back foot.
The tourists were always fighting a lost battle with no specialist batsmen to take charge in the slog overs.
India opened the bowling with R P Singh, and Irfan Pathan who got the breakthrough claiming the wicket of the hero of the last match played here in 2005.
Shahid Afridi, who opened the innings with Butt, tried to hit one shot too many and perished for 12.
The wickets of Younis and Yousuf gave India the much-needed impetus.
India's pacers bowled with control; Zaheer Khan, who had a rather forgettable game at Mohali, returned with commendable figures (25 for 1 in seven overs).
Runs dried up in the middle-overs when Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were introduced into the attack.
The target got stiffer as Pakistan were up against an asking rate of 10 in the last twelve overs. Eventually they fell short by 46 runs.
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