India (Paki)s(ta)nap their loS(ach)ing streak

India made three changes to their playing eleven – Nayan Mongia, Nilesh Kulkarni and Venkatesh Prasad made way for Saba Karim and a couple of One-day International debutants – Harvinder Singh and Debasis Mohanty.

Pakistan made three changes to the eleven that last played the Indians – Aamer Sohail and the Khans (Arshad and Kabir) made way for Ijaz Ahmed, Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Akram. On winning the toss, Rameez Raja, their skipper, inserted the Indians.

Sourav Ganguly, whose 41-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 17. He was caught by Shahid Afridi. Akram broke the 52-run stand. The second-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. Tendulkar, India’s skipper, scored 17. His 54-ball (Sach)innings included a couple of boundaries. He was caught by Akram off the bowling of Mahmood.

Rahul Dravid, who faced 41 balls, scored 23. He was caught by Ahmed. Afridi broke the 23-run stand. Ajay Jadeja, the player of the match, scored 49. His 54-ball innings included a boundary and four sixes. He was caught by Akram. Saqlain Mushtaq broke the 91-run stand.

Singh, whose 17-ball (Rob)innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 16. Saqlain broke the 23-run stand. Karim, who faced five balls, scored three. Aaqib Javed broke the three-run stand. Rajesh Chauhan, who faced a couple of balls, didn’t get off the mark. Javed broke the one-run stand.

Mohammad Azharuddin, who faced 87 balls, scored 52. He was stumped by Moin Khan. Saqlain broke the four-run stand. Abey Kuruvilla, who faced three balls, scored a run. He was caught by Saeed Anwar. Saqlain broke the one-run stand.

The last-wicket pair didn’t open its account. Harvinder, who faced a couple of balls, scored a run. He was caught by Javed off the bowling of Mushtaq. Mohanty, who didn’t face a ball, was unbeaten. Pakistan conceded 29 extras. India were dismissed for 208 off 50 overs. Saleem Malik, who bowled a wicketless over, conceded eight. Akram bowled nine overs, including a maiden. He conceded 41, picking up a wicket.

Afridi and Mahmood bowled 10 overs each, picking up a wicket apiece. While the former conceded 43, the latter, whose spell included a maiden, conceded 28. Javed bowled 10 overs, including three maidens. He conceded 39, picking up a couple of wickets. Mushtaq, who bowled 10 overs, conceded 45. He picked up five scalps.

Anwar, who faced four balls, scored a couple. Mohanty broke the four-run stand. Raja, who faced 11 balls, scored just a run. He was caught by Azharuddin. Kuruvilla broke the two-run stand. Inzamam-ul-Haq, whose 32-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 13. He was caught by Jadeja. Kuruvilla broke the 26-run stand.

Afridi, whose 20-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 13. He was caught by Azharuddin. Harvinder broke the 25-run partnership. Ahmed, whose 47-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 24. He was caught by Azharuddin. Ganguly broke the 25-run stand.

Khan was nought in seventh heaven, because he was caught by Singh. Ganguly broke the two-run stand. Mahmood, who faced 18 balls, scored nine. He was caught by Azharuddin, who equalled the Indian record for the most catches in a One-day International (four). He shared it with Sunil Gavaskar, who took four catches in a Rothman’s Trophy match against the same opposition in Sharjah in 1984/85. Harvinder broke the 23-run partnership.

The eighth-wicket partnership was worth 64. Saqlain, whose 44-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 29. Jadeja and Harvinder ran him out. Malik, whose 87-ball innings included four boundaries, scored 64. He was caught by Chauhan. Harvinder broke the 17-run stand.

The last-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. Javed, who faced three balls, scored a couple. Tendulkar and Karim ran him out. Akram, who didn’t face a ball, was unbeaten. India conceded 31 extras. Pakistan, who were dismissed for 188 off 44.2 overs, lost by 20 runs.

Chauhan and Tendulkar bowled a couple of wicketless overs apiece. While the former conceded 15, the former conceded 13. Robin bowled 10 wicketless overs, including a maiden. He conceded 35. Mohanty, who bowled seven overs, conceded 22. He picked up a wicket.

Ganguly, who bowled seven overs, conceded 27. He picked up a couple of wickets, as did Kuruvilla, who bowled eight overs, including a couple of maidens. He conceded 27. Harvinder, who bowled 8.2 overs, conceded 44. He picked up three scalps.

The Indians led the five-match series 1-0.