It was a chase that needed sensible batting, pure cricketing sense and temperament, and not the stereotype slam-bang swashbuckling knock that modern-day cricket breeds on. And the task fell upon a bunch of players who are not known to be the best in the business of applying themselves in difficult situations and eking out hard-earned victories. Ironically, the duo of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh — otherwise known for their devil-may-care approach towards the game — gave the world a lesson or two in mature cricket, emerged as Team India’s saviours, and helped the hosts earn a hard-fought five-wicket win over a tricky Pakistan outfit on a dustbowl here today, with three overs to spare. Chasing a daunting 240-run target on a wicket at the Nehru Stadium that kept ominously low and slow and turned average spinners into giants, India drew first blood, riding on skipper Dhoni and his deputy Yuvraj’s tenacious knocks to take a crucial 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series against Shoaib Malik & Co. Neither Dhoni’s 63, nor Yuvraj’s 58 will go down as statistical phenomena. But the manner in which the duo chose the old school approach on a difficult pitch — grinding their way to victory rather than using the long handle — and put up a match-winning 105-run fourth-wicket partnership was a heartening sight for Indian cricket fans who have been longing for a mature show like this from their battered national team. Opening the account in this series with the Guwahati one-dayer was always going to be challenge in itself, considering the Nehru Stadium wicket’s unpleasant track record, add to that the dogging emergency crisis in Pakistan. It was Pakistan, of course, who made the first call, choosing to bat first in seaming conditions in the morning, and riding on an unforgettable 83 from old warhorse Mohammad Yousuf, to set up a challenging chase. Making the most of some wayward bowling from India’s pace battery, Pakistan opener Salman Butt had set the tone with a strokeful 50. With Shahid Afridi (31) and Misbah-ul-Haq (27) for company, Yousuf formed Pakistan’s spine, braving some excellent spells of spin bowling from Harbhajan Singh (1/29), Murali Kartik (0/36) and Sachin Tendulkar (2/33). It is another story that Sourav Ganguly dropped Yousuf twice too many times — when the batsman was on 9 and 11, and both off Murali Kartik. But despite the laudable effort from the Pakistani batsmen, it was the hosts who had the last laugh, thanks mainly to the century stand from Dhoni and Yuvraj. Of course, there were other useful contributions — Gautam Gambhir (44) and Sourav Ganguly (39) putting up a crucial 82-run partnership for the second wicket that set up the successful chase. But at the end, it was the Dhoni-Yuvraj combine’s cool and calculated approach that not only just shut the door on an otherwise confident Pakistan bowling attack, but also reiterated yet again that India can win crunch matches without Tendulkar (4) firing. As the Indian captain and his southpaw deputy picked up the strings from 113/3 in 21 overs, the two in-form batsmen hardly made their presence felt, quietly hustling through the overs. By the time Yuvraj left, throwing his wicket away in a rare slog today, the damage had been done for Pakistan — the scorecard read 218/4 in 43 overs. The match was as good as over by then, what if Shoaib Akhtar came up with a late burst in the fading light. At the end, one only felt sorry for Yousuf, who earlier in the day showed how to go about batting on the slow-turner. Just when the Indian spinners were getting a stranglehold on the match, Yousuf literally bailed his team out with the cheeky knock. Having successfully challenged the likes of Akhtar and Yousuf in the series opener, it now remains to be seen whether Dhoni’s boys can keep up the good work in the rest of the matches. SCOREBOARDPakistanS Butt run out 50, K Akmal lbw Pathan 12, Y Khan c Pathan b Harbhajan 25, M Yousuf not out 83, S Afridi st Dhoni b Tendulkar 31, S Malik c Gambhir b Tendulkar 2, Misbah-ul Haq c Harbhajan b Zaheer 27, A Rehman run out 0Extras: (lb4, w5) 9Total: (for 7 wkts, 50 overs) 239Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-69, 3-104, 4-163, 5-165, 6-233, 7-239.Bowling: Zaheer 9-0-50-1, RP Singh 8-1-42-0, Pathan 8-2-45-1, Harbhajan 10-0-29-1, Kartik 10-0-36-0, Tendulkar 5-0-33-2. IndiaS Ganguly run out 39, S Tendulkar lbw Akhtar 4, G Gambhir b Afridi 44, MS Dhoni c Akmal b Akhtar 63, Y Singh c Afridi b Rehman 58, R Uthappa not out 11, I Pathan not out 5,Extras: (4b, 7lb, 1nb, 6w) 18Total: (for 5 wkts, 47 overs) 242Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-96, 3-113, 4-218, 5-225Bowling: Akhtar 8-0-52-2, Gul 7-2-26-0, Iftikhar 8-0-50-0, Afridi 10-0-34-1, Rehman 10-0-54-1, Malik 4-1-15-0.Result: India win by 5 wickets
