LAHORE, 22 March 2004 — Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid and ebullient Muhammad Kaif infused fresh life into the five-match One-Day International series with a smashing fifth-wicket stand that led India to a blazing five-wicket victory over Pakistan at the Gaddafi Stadium with five overs to spare.
The victory put Indian and Pakistan level at 2-2 in the series with the decider to be played on Wednesday here. That the fifth clash would be decisive was not evident when India were all but dead when they had lost their four top batsmen in the chase.
But the match was brought alive in the lights by Dravid’s defiance and Yuvraj’s cameo, first, and Kaif’s impetuous knock that paced India’s romp.
Chasing Pakistan’s seemingly unbeatable 293 for 9 under lights, India did well to recover from four down by the 13th over. Dravid, showing no signs of nerves in the make-or-break game, put on 68 in 66 balls for the fifth wicket with Yuvraj Singh (36) and an unbroken 132 for the sixth with Kaif, who returned unbeaten on 71 from 77 balls. Dravid was undefeated on 76.
The remarkable win overshadowed Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq’s second century in four matches in front of a capacity crowd of 25,000 that included some 4,500 Indians fans. Inzamam’s effort and some late slog by Younis Khan and Abdul Razzaq enabled Pakistan set up a challenging score.
Talking to reporters after the match Inzamam agreed that his bowlers were quite wayward. But he added “Dravid and Kaif took the match away from us.”
Full credit must go to Dravid and Kaif for their brilliant effort in pulling off a sensational victory after five of their top batsmen were sent back for only 162.
Dravid and Kaif, created a new ODI record for India for the sixth wicket against Pakistan by scoring 132 runs, beating the previous one of 116 set by Sanjay Manjrekar and Nayan Mongia in Sharjah.
Earlier, Inzamam played another classy knock of 123 to lift his side to 293 for 9. He was in tremendous form in compiling an unblemished 123 off 125 balls. This was his 10th ODI hundred and second in this series.
During his power-packed knock Inzamam was ably supported by Yasir Hameed (45), who helped add 50 runs for the third wicket. Then Younis (32) and Inzamam posted 105 from 106 balls and later the Pakistan captain added another useful 70 runs with Abdul Razzaq (36) for the fifth wicket.
But once Inzamam was out at 264 and Razzaq was dismissed at 283, the remaining two Pakistan batsmen could add only four runs.
India bowled and fielded much better than the previous matches. They managed to keep the Pakistan run rate to around 4.25 and 4.50 in the first half of the innings. But as Inzamam, Younis and Razzaq went for some big hits the fielding buckled under pressure. Pakistan adding 95 runs in the last 10 overs.
The Indians made a desperate chase, reaching 100 by the 15th over. But the scintillating start cost them four wickets, including the vital one of master batsman Sachin Tendulkar.
“The scorching start given by the top order helped us a lot,” Dravid told reporters. “After that, it was just a matter of staying at the wicket and batting through the innings.
“Kaif was superb and rotated the strike which helped our cause. It was a fantastic win and we are all looking forward to Wednesday’s decider.”
Tendulkar put on 34 in the first four overs with Virender Sehwag, who hit a quickfire 26 with five boundaries. When skipper Saurav Ganguly edged Razzaq to Moin after making 21, the Indians were gasping for survival at 94-4 in 13 overs.
As Dravid held one end, Yuvraj launched into the Pakistani attack and carried the total to 162-4 when he pulled Sami to Yousuf Youhana at mid-wicket.
Kaif continued from where Yuvraj left off and helped Dravid seal a famous victory for India. It was Pakistan’s first loss at the Gaddafi stadium in the last eight matches since 2000.
