M S-led India beat Pakistan

India made a couple of Cha(wla)nges to their playing eleven – Harbhajan Singh and Piyush made way for Virender Sehwag and Lakshmipathy Balaji.

Pakistan (Moham)made four changes to the eleven that last played the Indians – Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Sohail Tanvir and Asif made way for Nasir Jamshed, Umar Akmal, Saeed Ajmal and Raza Hasan.

On winning the toss, Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan’s skipper, chose to bat.

The Powerplay of Pakistan’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 42, and lost a couple of wickets.

Imran Nazir, who faced five balls, scored eight. His runs came by way of boundaries. Eight balls into the match, he was trapped leg before wicket by Irfan Pathan, who broke the 17-run stand.

Shahid Afridi, whose 12-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 14. Twenty balls later, he was caught by Suresh Raina. Lakshmipathy Balaji broke the 18-run stand.

Jamshed, who faced five balls, scored four. A dozen balls later, he was caught by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s skipper. Yuvraj Singh broke the eight-run stand.

Kamran Akmal, who faced half-a-dozen balls, scored five. Ten balls later, he was caught by Dhoni. Yuvraj broke the six-run stand.

Pakistan scored 50 off 8.3 overs (51 balls). India had conceded nine extras at that point.

Hafeez, whose 28-ball innings included a boundary, scored just 15. Nine balls later, Virat Kohli, the player of the match, broke the 10-run stand.

Pakistan scored 100 off 14.3 overs (88 balls). India had conceded a dozen extras at that point. That was, incidentally, the number of extras they eventually conceded.

Shoaib Malik, whose 22-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 28. Thirty-three balls after Hafeez’s dismissal, he was caught by Rohit Sharma. Ravichandran Ashwin broke the 47-run stand.

Umar Akmal, whose 18-ball innings included a six, scored 21. Thirteen balls later, he was caught by Raina. Ashwin broke the nine-run stand.

The eighth-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. Yasir Arafat, whose 11-ball innings included a boundary, scored eight. Four balls later, Yuvraj ran him out.

Umar Gul, whose 10-ball innings included a boundary and a six, scored a dozen. Eight balls later, he was caught by Dhoni. Balaji broke the 13-run stand.

The last-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. Ajmal, who faced a couple of balls, scored a run. The next ball, he was caught by Dhoni off the bowling of Balaji.

Hasan, who didn’t face a ball, was unbeaten.

Pakistan were dismissed for 128 off 19.4 overs. Zaheer Khan bowled three wicketless overs, conceding 22. Pathan and Kohli bowled three overs each, picking up a wicket apiece. While the former conceded 30, the latter conceded 21.

Yuvraj bowled three overs, conceding 16. He picked up a couple of wickets, as did Ashwin, who bowled four overs, conceding 16. Balaji bowled 3.4 overs, conceding 22. He picked up three scalps.

The Powerplay of India’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 36, and lost a wicket.

Gautam Gambhir, who faced a couple of balls, didn’t open his account. A couple of balls into the chase, he was caught by Hasan, who broke the one-run stand.

India scored 50 off 7.5 overs (47 balls). Pakistan had conceded a couple of extras at that point.

The second-wicket pair put on 50 off 46 balls. While Sehwag’s contribution to the partnership was 22, Kohli’s contribution to it was 27. Extras’ contribution to the partnership was a run.

Sehwag, whose 24-ball innings included four boundaries, eventually scored 29. Sixty-one balls after Gambhir’s dismissal, he was caught by Gul. Afridi broke the 74-run partnership.

Kohli, whose 61-ball innings included eight boundaries and a couple of sixes, scored 78. He was unbeaten, as was Yuvraj, who scored 19. His 16-ball innings included a couple of boundaries.

Pakistan eventually conceded three extras. India, who scored 129 for the loss of a couple of wickets off 17 overs, won by eight wickets with three overs to spare. Arafat bowled an over, conceding 11. He was wicketless, as was Hafeez, who bowled an over, conceding seven.

Gul bowled three wicketless overs, conceding 30. Ajmal bowled four wicketless overs, conceding 25. Afridi and Hasan bowled four overs each, picking up a wicket apiece. While the former conceded 34, the latter conceded 22.