This was the most pleasing win of the series. 4-1 looks a lot better than 3-2. This is even more impressive considering that we rested Sachin and Irfan.This gave Romesh Powar a game along with Zaheer. Murali Kartik was the supersub.

Rahul won the toss and chose to field. In keeping with the team’s current philosophy, Agarkar and Zaheer were given the ‘challenge’ of opening the bowling. They both bowled poorly and Pakistan reached 62/0 in 10.5 overs. Agarkar and Zaheer extracted movement but were hopelessly out of control. Sreesanth was then, belatedly, given the ball and it was soon 77/3 with Imran Farhat, Kamran Akmal and the dangerous Shoaib Malik back in the hut.

Powar bowled well and may be an option for the world cup. He has good control and spun the ball well even when bowling very flat ( 10-0-49-1). He was our most economical bowler and got the crucial wicket of Inzamam. He is also a decent batsman and is a better ODI player than Murali Kartik. He will have to lose some weight and move quicker in the field, though.

Sreesanth bowled well and will now push for a regular test spot ahead of Agarkar ( 10-1-58-4). He put the brakes on the Pakistani batting and bowled well at the death, yet again. Agarkar was poor and should not go to the world cup ( 10-1-60-1). You cannot win the world cup with bowlers like him. He bowls 2 – 3 rank bad balls every over and will single-handedly lose us games against teams like Australia.

Zaheer started poorly but bowled better at the death and should be retained in the squad for now, for want of a better option ( 10-0-64-1). He does not, however, look as if he is going to last too long. R P swung the ball appreciably but did spray it around a fair bit ( 10-1-50-1). He needs to keep working on his accuracy.

Inzamam was lbw yet again, for 21 ( 115/4), missing a straight ball that spun just a little from Powar. Inzy shuffles across his stumps and puts his whole body behind the bat, instead of putting bat and pad forward side by side. This gets him into trouble when he misses the ball as in his last two innings. Kumble has exploited this several times in tests. Bob Woolmer is such an expert with the batting technique of Indian batsmen that he, perhaps, has no time to look at the technique of his own captain!

Younis Khan held the inning together, scoring an unbeaten 74 off 79. He was responsible for taking Pakistan to 286/8 off 50 overs. What followed must be painful and demoralizing for the Pakistani team.

Gambhir and Rahul made a sedate start before Gambhir began playing his shots. He looked better today but fell for 38, slashing at a wide delivery without moving his feet ( 69/1). Rahul scored a valuable 50 off 82 balls but struggled throughout his innings. He could not time or middle the ball most times. When he did, it went straight to the fielder. Crucially, he hung in there and let Yuvraj do the scoring.

Yuvraj was just sublime. His timing is so sweet at the moment, it’s unreal. His drives on the off, the flicks of his pads, the pulls to the short balls were fantastic and played with no fuss at all. When Rahul was out the score read 141/2 off 30.2 overs. The required run rate was just over 7.4 an over. Yuvraj and Dhoni ran the singles hard and scored around 6 – 7 runs an over. The aim then was to not lose any wickets.

They reached 200 in 39.1 overs. The required rate then was just under 8.1 an over. Soon it was 8.4 runs an over. The 10 overs after the 35^th. produced 95 runs. At the end of the 45^th. over Dhoni had reached 50 off 46 balls and the score read 259/2. Dhoni played 10 more balls and his scoring sequence read 4,6,0,0,0,4,0,6,6,1 and it was all over ( 77 n.o. off 56 balls). In between ,Yuvraj had taken a single to give Dhoni the strike in the 47^th. over. Astonishingly, 3.1 overs were still left!

Dhoni plays some shots that only he can in world cricket. Two sixes were hit to good balls bowled to him at just above ankle height at the stumps. His superfast bat speed allows him to get under them even when bowled at nearly 140km/hr. How he manages to smash in-swinging yorkers to mid-wicket is best know to him. These shots do not exist in a coaching manual. I can only humbly suggest names – a ‘Dhonibolt’ ( yorker hit for six over long on/off), the ‘AirDhoni’ ( square cut hit with both feet off the ground) and the ‘Dhonilash’ ( yorker whipped to the midwicket fence). May he keep this form forever!

Yuvraj played the last few overs with a runner after pulling his hamstring. After the 45^th. over it was clear India was going to win. I can understand his desire to be there until the end and get to his hundred, but batting on was not the best decision and he may well have aggravated the injury ( 107 n. o. off 93 balls). Yuvraj was MOM and Man of the series.

Apart from a few balls they bowled to Yuvraj’s pads, the Pakistani bowlers bowled pretty well at the end. This was batting from a different planet.

The Pakistani fielding was disgraceful. I counted that about 1 in 4 balls were fielded cleanly on average in the middle part of the innings. There were overthrows galore and fielders were chasing them only after the ball had past them, instead of covering the throws. They did not hit the stumps even once when it mattered. The fielders were trying to pick the balls up in a funny way. I wonder if this is the highly technical, ‘Woolmer’ school of fielding. Instead of talking about other teams, Mr. Woolmer, focus on your own and for God’s sake, set an example and lose some weight! You and your captain look like participants in a different sport!

Winning is a habit and the boys seem hooked on it. May this addiction be never ending. Have fun!

P.S: Just a reminder – on days when no article is posted, there is a lively discussion still happening in the comments section. You can access it by clicking ‘comments’ at the bottom of the article. Feel free to join in too. Names for Dhoni's unique strokes are welcome.

Congratulations to Rahul Dravid, the Indian cricket team, Greg Chappell and the support staff for a deserving series win. That it came in Pakistan makes it extra special and avenges the loss at home last year. There was no shortage of people writing the team off after the loss at Peshawar, oblivious to the fact that the game was evenly poised when play was stopped.

That the team has come back from that loss and the demoralizing test defeat at Karachi, is a tribute to the team's determination and  professionalism. This has been the hallmark of this team over the last couple of years. Teams of the past have routinely rolled over after big losses abroad. The team is now doing justice to the overwhelming support it recieves from the fans and corporate India. It deserves our wholesome adulation.

Back to the game. Rahul won the toss and put Pakistan in. Our bowlers put in their best bowling performance of this series so far. Irfan and Sreesanth bowled well to start off and R P Singh used the conditions very well. As in the previous games, we took early wickets. This ensured that their batsmen were forced to focus on survival rather than scoring. The chance of taking advantage of the fielding restrictions in the powerplays was never an option. 

Irfan bowled well, exploiting the moisture in the pitch ( 7.5-2-26-3). There are few bowlers in world cricket who use helpful conditions as well as him. Raina took a good catch to dismiss Kamran Akmal off Irfan to start the slide ( 15/1). Wickets fell in a flurry and it was soon 29/4. The only partnership of any substance was between Inzamam and Mohd. Yusuf for 68 runs till Yusuf fell with the score at 97. Pakistan were all out for 161.

Sreesanth bowled well too ( 8-1-30-1), getting Butt to a wonderful catch by Rahul Dravid. The catching today was top notch, making amends for Lahore. Pathan took a good catch later too. Sreesanth moves the ball less than the left armers but hits the deck hard and is easily our most lively bowler. He lends the attack variety and will be more effective than the rest on flat tracks.

R P today bowled like Pathan in a different body! He came up first change in the 13th. over and took the wickets of the in form Malik and Younis Khan in that over. He has the ability to swing the ball and has a good inswinger and off cutter like Pathan. He bowled with tight control today and was amply rewarded for it. I had criticized him for poor control at Lahore but he made amends today, winning the MOM award ( 10-0-40-4). 

Agarkar, I am afraid, remains the weak link and I hope that some more bowling options show up before the world cup. Tendulker was the most economical bowler ( 9-0-27-1), getting his bunny, Inzamam, again, when he was looking dangeous. That is the largest bunny you will ever see!

India started poorly with Tendulker falling to a poor shot for a duck ( 5/1). Gambhir hit a few good shots mixed with some bad ones. He hit Sami for three 4s in one over, got carried away and fell to the last ball of that over ( 29/2). His spot in the ODI squad is going to remain shaky for now. Rahul and Yuvraj then set about repairing the damage and took the score to 114 before Yuvraj was caught behind for 37 ( 114/3). Kaif looked totally at sea during his six ball stay and slashed at a wide delivery without moving his feet. He fell for a duck making it 115/4. Rahul was lbw to an inswinging full toss from Sami and the Indians were suddenly under pressure ( 133/5). Raina reeled off a string of 4s, driving on the off side and looked good in an unbeaten 35 off 34 balls. Another wicket at 133 and we would have been in trouble but Raina made sure we won the game. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 2. The target was overhauled in 32.3 overs. A comprehensive victory by any standard.

I saw several people in the crowd praying fervently quite openly during the game. I wonder how they feel and what their thoughts are when their team still gets thrashed on the field.

Anyway, this series win ensures that the Indian cricket team's return to Karachi will be in stark contrast to their departure from the port city just a few days ago. And what a wonderful balm that is!