Pak provide surprise again

Then, after India had elected to bat first, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir tore into their bowling attack with such ferocity that 10 overs into the day8217;s play, a defeat looked almost a certainty.

But this is Pakistan, the team that can never be written off.

They pulled things back after the initial onslaught to restrict the Indian total to 308 8212; Dhoni 038; Co looked set for bigger things after the torrid start 8212; and then, they chased it down with enough conviction to leave anyone who was watching wondering why they had been written off.

Incidentally, Pakistan8217;s eight-wicket win has made India8217;s match against Sri Lanka on Thursday a virtual semi-final now. The kind of form the Lankans have been in, Dhoni 038; Co will have to get everthing right to keep their hopes alive. A loss, on the other hand, will see Pakistan take on Lanka for the title.

Start to finish

But first, the chase. Salman Butt8217;s 36 off 31 balls set the ball rolling, flashes of brilliance bringing runs from both sides of the wicket. The young opener pulled and drove as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for once, hesitated in continuing any of his attacking pairs for longer than two or three over spells. Ishant Sharma, visibly exhausted, went for as many as 16 in his first over, allowing Nasir Jamshed, in the process, to settle down alongside Butt.

India8217;s brightest spark while resisting the chase came when Gautam Gambhir ran Butt out. Then, 10 overs later Jamshad succumbed 8212; retired hurt to a bout of cramps, while Mohammad Yousuf was bowled round his legs by Piyush Chawla soon after.

That was as far as India got though. The openers had given their team a great start and once the platform was set, Younis Khan got his bat to do the talking until the winning runs were scored. Khan was unbeaten on 123 as Pakistan strolled to an eight-wicket victory with 27 deliveries to spare.

Dhoni8217;s fireworks

Earlier, Mahendra Singh Dhoni had cashed on an excellent 88-run opening stand provided by Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, and despite a brief collapse, led India past the 300-mark along with Rohit Sharma.

Strengthening the middle-order has been one of the big talking points in recent times, at least as far as Dhoni goes. The Indian captain, among other things, has repeatedly spoken about finding ways to improve the run-rate between the 30th and 45th over of the innings, using innovating strokeplay to get runs when the powerplays are not on and including batsmen who could stem the rot in case of a top-order collapse.

Yesterday, Dhoni himself played all those roles as India put up 308 for seven in their 50 overs.

However, as things turned out, it was never going to be enough. Not once Pakistan had decided this was the day they were going to provide the surprise.