Grudge missing from final match
With India having clinched the series in Gwalior, perhaps a little bit of the edge had gone out of the .
A total of seven changes - four for Pakistan, three for India 鈥 were indicative of the thinking in both camps.
That said the tourists would have been desperate to salvage some lost pride, while the Indians would have been looking to turn the psychological screws ahead of the Test series.
Batting first, Pakistan鈥檚 imposing score of 306-6 was founded on a superb 168 partnership between Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf for the fourth wicket.
The two had come together with their side wobbling on 77-3, Sree Santh taking three wickets in three consecutive overs.
Good fortune favoured the Pakistani batsman as edges and mis-hits landed just short of the fielders, and you sensed this was going to be their day.
Having ridden their luck, both Yousuf and Malik grew in confidence, playing some truly glorious shots, particularly off the slow bowlers.
Fawad Alam鈥檚 late cameo of 32 off 23 balls showed his form in domestic Twenty20 has been no fluke.
India鈥檚 reply, by contrast, saw wickets tumble at regular intervals, despite a brisk 30 off 27 balls by Sachin Tendulkar. And at 62-4, India had a very tall mountain to climb.
But there鈥檚 a new belief in the Indian side, and Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma set about the repair job, the latter notching up his maiden ODI fifty in a 81-run partnership.
At his fall, Mahendra Dhoni came to the crease, and an incredible win seemed on.
But a cruel twist of fate, literally, hit India鈥檚 hopes. Dhoni, turning sharply for a second at the bowler鈥檚 end, appeared to slip and went down in agony.
A lengthy break from play followed as he was bandaged up. The very first ball after this delay, Yuvraj pulled at Umar Gul, missed, and the ball hit his shoulder through to the keeper.
The left-hander stood his ground for several seconds to show his anguish as umpire
Suresh Shastri raised his finger.
A few balls later, Dhoni, clearly hampered by the injury, and batting with a runner, fell at mid-off going for the big one, and the game was all but Pakistan鈥檚.
Malik won the man-of-the-match award for his 89 and three wickets, and the Pakistan captain must have been mighty relieved to have lost the toss, as the 鈥渃urse of the toss-winner鈥 struck for the fifth consecutive time in this five-match series.
But with this series already decided, his thoughts must already have been drifting to the , which starts in Delhi next Thursday.
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Pakistan played well today. Good game of cricket. Now both teams are on even footing going into the test series.
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Things generally fell the way of Pakistan today against a slightly weakened India, but things will be completely different come the Test series when the different personnel will be looking to make their mark on proceedings. I make India strong favourites.
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well done akistan if they won the last match would have seen better indian play and good luck to pakistan in the test series and come on ENGLAND VS CROATIA
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Pakistan did good today MASHALLAH, i believe they should keep this fast bowling attack except rao iftikar cuz he is going back. SO put sami in place of rao and have three fast bowler Tanvir, Sami and Gul. I don;t think Akthar is match fit for test cuz he gained alot of weight now
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i just want to tel the selectors of pcb please do go out and look for new talent give every body a chance not give a chance 2 the same person again and again be fair with everyone.
selectors need look at low class bcuz they work hard and they know meaning and value of the game.
please pcb selectors go to university,deapartment and banks bucz also they have talent as well.
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I find it funny Navin would say that both teams are even going into tests - India rested its best bowlers and the match is inconsequential
so, where is the evenness coming from
Ravi
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excuse me mr ravi if indian have change some their player n u think its make weaker indain team but sorry man dont forgate even pakistan make some change as well n our team look so weak then india but u have to expect tht we play well
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WEll i can clearly see that yougsters play with more concentration then seniors in both of the teams.
Players who play for the team can lead clean win instead of players who play for themselves
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indian and pakisthan played very well...
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The twist was when yuvi was given out by umpire suresh shastri.Wat a mockery of a decision,,i dont know why indian umpires are always giving decisions against indian batsmen,,,or bowlers..probably they think that if they give decision in favour of india everone will call them cheat.
No international cricket playing country has to face the brunt of such unfortunate decisions as india suffer when they are hosts.
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Pakistan were simply pathetic at the batting department from the start of the series specially their opening batting department.Although the return of akhtar was a great news,Asif could have been more better.His missing cost them dearly,as he was ruthless against the Indians on the previous matches.Pakistanis must work on their opening batting slot and their fielding department which was all sloppy.
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Who cares about a dead rubber between 2 teams who couldn't even make it past the 1st round of the World Cup?
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John B (12). Over a Billion people care.
India V Pakistan is unlike any other cricket match.Any match. Even if it was 4-0 going into this game, the passion would still be there.
Its not like the recent SA v NZ or Au V SL. Or even the up coming SL V Eng. These are played in empty stadiums with poor viewing figures throughout the world.
Even the Ashes series is nearly always too predicatable (and one sided) so people stop watching after the third match.
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Kamlesh Purohit has been covering the Indo-Pak ODI series with quite an objective mind. Hats off to him. Let us look forward to the Test Series between these two supremely talented sides.
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John B (comment 12) you seem to care otherwise you would not be reading this article.
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Evenness would only come if it were 3-3, anyways i really do not beleive in psychological advantage and all that garbage.Whoever plays better cricket on thier day wins (especially one day).Plus going into a fresh one day series after this win for Pak still would have had some bearing but going into a test series with a different set of players anyways is a fresh beggining irrespective of the result of 5th ODI game! Good to luck to bth teams for the tests.
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YOOOOOOOOOOO,
GOOD WIN FOR PAKISTAN....DIDN'T I TELLLLL U ALLLL INDIA WOULD EITHER WIN 4/1 OR 3/2!!!!!SOOOOO THERE!!!!
CHAK DEEEEEEEEEEEEEE INDIA....
INDIA WILLLL WIN THW NEXT SERIES AS WELLL.!!!!
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Kamlesh,
I thought this was a pretty boring blog from your side. If you're writing an opinion about cricket for so long, one would expect you to give your perspective of the whole series or the match or even the upcoming tests. But your piece was more like a match report, as factual as it can possibly get. If you want to write this way, why not just make it news. You're writing for the 麻豆官网首页入口 man, add a thought or two from your side. An ordinary fan on the street could say better than what you did.
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please have a thought for Imran Khan he must be starving!
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hear hear...mike duncan .........lol lol
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Sidharth ^^^^: I totally agree your view about Indian umpires. Suresh Shastri continues to make horrible decisions ( and largely against Indians). I cant follow why he still stands as umpire. We had couple good ones in past in Venkatraghvan and Maninder Singh but the present lot has been extremely poor. Its simple with Shastri. You put him under pressure and he will oblige..I am sure bowlers have figured him out by now. I just hope he doesnt stand in test matches now.
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I am sorry to say but this article is biased. The author has been talking about LUCK. As if Pakistan won the game by luck. Talking about Pakistani innings, the author states that Pakistani batsmen's shots were just short of hands of the Indian fielders. They have been lucky otherwise Indians would have catched it and Pakistani team would have been booked. No acknowledgement for their batting?? On the other hand, when Indian batsmen are getting out, no credit has been given to Pakistani bowlers instead it's been called a bad luck for Indian team. Strange! Anyway, I acknowledge marvelous abilities of Indian team and the Pakistani Team as well. Indians overall have a better edge than Pakistan in this series. If India is 100, Pakistan is 99.99. That's the difference, which can overcome by effort.
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First of all the indian team definately need to sort out their manners. RP Singh during the game whilst on the bench eating with the mouth open. During presentation Harbajhan spilling some coke on Yuvraj - unorthodox. Some indian players holding others back and messing around like little kids, lol. The pakistani team looked very mature and stood well mannered and patiently. I don't think I'm being biased, i'm sure most other viewers out there would agree about the immature behaviour of the indian players during presentation.....
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Anyone complaing about umpiring should not forget horrible LBW decisions against Afridi and Salman Butt in Kanpur by the indian umpire which could have been the deciding factor.Also same match a solid LBW appeal declined against Tandulkar.Pakistan has been a better test and odi team against India.Please look at the stats head to head.
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The Indian media machine's praises' for their cricket team is pretty much like their English counterparts - over indulge in the compliments for victories and then criticise them beyond scope when they lose.... India played better cricket, but marginally...however, neither side's consistency would worry strong sides like Aus or SAF - its a fact!
I agree with the previous Pak posts' the articles have read like a report and lack imagination. Plus not factual...Yuvraj survived an inside edge and a close stumping..for me that was two more clear chances than the Pak batsman who were quoted as being lucky! Decisions fall both ways and balance out eventually... overall Pak lost due to poor cricket at crucial times - main culprit being Akmal and Shoaib's uninspiring leadership. I think Afridi should be asked what he see's his future role, a predictable failure is getting tiring....Symonds, Dhoni and others have built on their natural game of aggression....he needs to do the same or join the IPL!
PAK are going thru a transition at the moment, perhaps at the worst time. However, unlike the Indian Board who decided to shield Dhoni from a big Series' ahead, Shoaib has been thrown into the fire....i just hope he/PCB realize in the aftermath if the role is for him!
Indians are a fickle bunch in defeat, their crowds prove that when the applause stops for any opposition when the match sways....i have read several posts say Ind weren't trying and they had lots of changes...either way why not accept u were outplayed otherwise u would have won? If we talk about stats (Indians luuuuuuv stats), then they weigh SO favourably to Pak you should stop harping :)
Certain Australians recently remarked beating India felt the best, i'm beginning to understand why.....
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Strangely the Indo-Pak series was far more friendly(between sworn enemies)than India Australia one. I guess that was because both Indians and Pakistanis don't instigate verbal combats, rather react strongly at being taunted. Aussies, the champion sledgers, really had their hands full, for obvious reasons. Not justifying racial abuse though!!
Also, I have heard that Indians and Pakistanis cricketers are really good friends. Same can be said generally about Indian and Pakistani expats as well. What does this show? I think culturally there are a lot many similarities between Indians and Pakistanis to overcome religious suspicions and hatred and move forward to a future that justifies the incredible potential bestowed upon the sub-continent by the mighty allah/bhagwan!
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well i told u India would win 3-2 braP!!!!!!!!!!!!1
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look pakistan won because in 3rd match because wgen butt was lbwd by harbajan harbajan shook his head
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the better team (doesn't matter by what margin) wins the series. clearly its india in the ODI. thats about it, it doesn't deserve any more scrutiny than that. now lets move on to the test!
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I was jus checking wicket keepers score in current matchs being played and noticed:
Sirilanka wicket keeper Sangakkara scored 57 and 192 while Gilchrist scored 67 not out and didnt bat in the second innings. Ms Dhoni has been very good with the bat n keeping too.
Kamran Akmal need to start typing/writting his resignation, also Pakistan need a good opening pair as soon as possible, any lose or win dose affect the world ranking. If we the exp knows about these weaknesses why the F word Pak selectors dont see these loops. I wud be so angry if some Rishwat Khaur player comes.
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YES LOVIN INDIA FOR THE REST OF MA LIFE IT DOESNT MATTER IF INDIA LOSE!!!!COZ WE(INDIA)BEAT THEM IN THE 20/20 FINAL
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Pakistan played well in the last match. They deserved to win. Very good performance from Malik not only in batting and bowling but also in motivating the team. It is very difficult to motivate a team in a dead-rubber game.
Agree with Tahir(message 30) regarding the wicket keepers. I think we are now seeing some of the best wicket-keeper batsmen.
Bad news for India even b4 the start of test series. RP Singh and Srisanth have been ruled out: lazy Munaf comes in.
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whoo,hoo and india have won the first test too!!! exciting one too. Days 1-3 was definetely in the balance.
Well done India again!
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whoo,hoo and india have won the first test too!!! exciting one too. Days 1-3 was definetely in the balance.
Well done India again!
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