KARACHI, 20 February 2006 — India convincingly won the fifth and final One-Day International against Pakistan by eight wickets and with it the five-match series by 4-1 at the National Stadium here yesterday.

With yesterday’s win, the visitors made it four ODI wins in a row, a record between the two countries.

Earlier, India had won the last three matches of the series played in Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore by seven, five and seven wickets while Pakistan had won the first match in Peshawar by a slender margin of seven runs.

It was once again, like the Multan game on Monday, stylish left-hander Yuvraj ‘super’ Singh who led his team to victory with consummate ease in which he was ably supported by the aggressive Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

On paper an eight-wicket win may not look as comprehensive and fluent as the Singh-Dhoni combination made it in the field. At no stage, from the 31st over when Dhoni joined Singh after the departure of skipper Rahul Dravid when the Indian total was 141 for 2, till the 47th over these two showed any sign of panic or pressure.

Singh in particular, looked like calm and patience personified. He took over the role of the sheet anchor after his captain’s departure and let Dhoni chase the runs.

The way these two batted, taking India from 141 for 2 to 287 for 2, hammering 146 runs in 16.3 overs was a treat to watch. In the process Singh slammed an unblemished century, his sixth in limited overs matches. His unbeaten 107 off 93 balls included 14 hits to the fence. Dhoni, from the other end, smashed 77 off 56 balls with the help of six boundaries and four sixes.

Pakistan’s performance was pathetic, to say the least. Even after posting a respectable and defendable total of 286 for eight, they never looked like a winning combination. Surprisingly, when at one stage of the Indian innings the required run rate had climbed to over 8 runs per over, Pakistani bowlers and fielders appeared under pressure rather than Singh and Dhoni.

Dravid won the toss and like the last three matches opted to field. India, having already clinched the series 3-1 after the Multan win, rested Sachin Tendulkar and Irfan Pathan. They were replaced by leg-spinner Suresh Powar and young batsman Suresh Raina. Pakistan dropped Rana Naveed ul-Hasan and opener Salman Butt to include Imran Farhat and pace bowler Rao Iftikhar. After a reasonably good start of 61 by the openers, Pakistan’s top order faltered for the fourth successive time in this series but pluck half-centuries from Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan propped them up to a healthy 286 for 8.

Mohammad Yousuf made amends for his failures in the last three matches by scoring 67 from 85 balls and vice-captain Younis Khan played a responsible unbeaten knock of 74. But skipper Inzamam ul-Haq once again failed to lead from the front, for the third time in this series, which could be one reason of the team’s failure to compile a big total.

Pakistan lost three quick wickets, within span of ten overs, after openers Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat had given a 61-run start. Sreesanth done the main damage, as he was accounted for the dismissals of Farhat (24), Akmal (25) and Shoaib Malik in his consecutive overs to shatter the home team’s aspiration of compiling a big score.

Dravid, who opened the innings for India with Gautam Gambhir, truly laid the foundations of India’s victory. These two put on 69 runs for the opening stand before Gambhir was caught by Akmal off Rao after scoring 38.

But Dravid, who was joined by Yuvraj, remained calm and these two set on to consolidate the innings, taking the score to 141, adding 72 runs for the second wicket partnership.

After Dravid’s (50 from 82 balls) departure in the 31st over, the rest was Yuvraj-Dhoni show who practically tore apart the Pakistan bowling and fielding even during a period when the run rate fell far behind.

Pakistan Retain Youth World Cup as Ali Wrecks India

AFP adds from Colombo: Fast bowler Anwar Ali grabbed three wickets in his opening over as Pakistan retained the under-19 cricket World Cup with a sensational 38-run win over India in the final yesterday.

The talented paceman finished with 5-35 off nine incisive overs as Pakistan defended their small total of 109 by bundling India out for a meager 71 in the day-night match. Pakistan, who won the Cup in Bangladesh two years ago, became the first team to defend the title.

None of the top-order Indian batsmen could read Ali, who swung the ball in at a lively pace to trap in-form opener Cheteshwar Pujara leg-before and then rattled the stumps of Rohit Sharma and Mayank Tehlan in his first over.

India could never recover from the terrible start despite a fighting 39-run stand for the eighth wicket between Piyush Chawla (25 not out) and Pinal Shah (16), the only two batsmen to reach double-figures in a dismal performance.

Fast bowler Akhtar Ayub claimed the last three Indian wickets to spark celebrations in the Pakistani camp.