Two won, it’s 2-1, India are too good

A match that was dominated, against all predictions, for long periods by the bowlers came to life in the last 13 overs when this pair took the game by the scruff of its neck and rattled off the 102 runs remaining for a win. Ironically, while Dhoni is being applauded for following his natural maverick batting instincts, Yuvraj Singh gets a pat on the back for changing his approach to the game. He’s replaced his casual arrogance with a sense of responsibility and become a hugely dependable middle-order bat.

When Yuvraj drove the other day to the Punja Sahib gurdwara, he sat gripping his seat and asked the driver not to overspeed on the empty, smooth roads. It may have no context in his cricket career but it’s a sign that he’s moved on from his fast and furious GenX avatar. Sitting in the dressing room, Dhoni watched Yuvraj carry his good form into the match. In the middle, they stayed together for exactly one hour but all that time, Dhoni scored, Yuvraj watched.

Dhoni later said his innings at Pune against Sri Lanka last year was better; that time, it was a mere 45 off 43 balls. Today’s was in multiples of four.

There was a third batsman responsible for India’s victory whose contribution was overshadowed by the pyrotechnics of his younger teammates. But the man best equipped to assess Sachin Tendulkar’s impact on India’s innings was his captain, with whom he put up a solid partnership. ‘‘Sachin’s assessment of the situation was absolutely brilliant. He watched and controlled the game well, the ball was doing something and he managed to scoring without taking any risk. This was something special’’, Dravid later said. After the match, Sachin stopped and chatted with a physically disabled boy. No such kindness was shown to the Pakistan bowlers.

Yet he needed a partner who could match him for his shots because the run-rate was still hovering above six per over. He found that partner in Yuvraj, who showed the full face of his bat to each of the 87 balls he faced and, unless really short and wide, Yuvraj played straight and dealt mainly in boundaries. He looked in good nick this series and it was important that he carried on here, especially when Dravid’s run-out meant that Pakistan were right back in the game.

Yuvraj drilled the bowlers, sucked out their confidence — and let Dhoni do the rest.