Chennai: Indian captain MS Dhoni’s heroic unbeaten century under pressure went in vain as archrivals Pakistan held their nerve to clinch the first ODI with a comfortable six-wicket victory in a low-scoring contest here on Sunday.
India posted 227 for six after recovering from a precarious 29 for five at one stage, but that turned out to be insufficient for the Pakistanis, who rode on Nasir Jamshed’s unbeaten century to overhaul the target with 11 balls to spare and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Dhoni played a captain’s knock with an unbeaten 113, his eighth one-day century, to script a brilliant Indian recovery after left-arm pacer Junaid Khan (4-43) exploited the overcast conditions to rip through the top-order and leave the hosts gasping for breath within the first 10 overs.
The Indian captain found an able ally in Suresh Raina (43) first and then Ravichandran Ashwin (31 not out) to take the score beyond the 200-run mark, which looked doubtful at one stage following the top-order collapse.
Dhoni and Ashwin put on a record seventh wicket partnership of 121 runs but the Indian captain’s superlative knock off 125 balls lost much of its value as the Pakistani batsmen went about the task of chasing down the target without taking too many risks.
Younis Khan (58) and Shoaib Malik (34 not out) were the other notable performers for Pakistan.
The Pakistani innings started on a disastrous note as ODI debutant Bhuvneshwar Kumar produced a beauty to get rid of Mohammed Hafeez with the very first delivery of the Pakistan innings.
The ball came back sharply after pitching as Hafeez didn’t offer a stroke only to find his off-stump knocked back.
The youngster got rid of Azhar Ali a few overs later to reduce the visitors to 21 for two. But the experienced Younis Khan and Nashir steadied the Pakistan innings with a solid 112-run third wicket partnership.
Both Jamshed and Younis benefitted due to some horrendous decisions given by the Indian umpire S Ravi. Jamshed was lucky to get a reprieve on 24 when an inside edge was caught by Virender Sehwag in first slip off Ashwin but Ravi turned down the appeal.
Ravi also negated a plumb lbw decision against Younis when the right-hander missed a delivery from Ashwin in his bid to play the sweep shot.
Younis returned to the pavilion when Ashwin latched on to a low catch off Ashok Dinda. But by that time, the visitors were already in a good position and just needed to bat sensibly to reach the target.
Jamshed, who grew in confidence as the innings wore on, was dropped by Yuvraj Singh when on 68 off Dinda much to the disappointment of a sizeable holiday crowd at the Chepauk.
Just when Pakistan seemed to be cruising along comfortably, Ishant Sharma enlivened the proceedings to some extent by getting rid of captain Misbah-ul Haq (16) with a slower ball which knocked down the off stump.
It was Malik, who hit the winning runs with a pull towards the deep mid-wicket boundary off the first ball of the penultimate over.
Earlier, put into bat, India plunged into trouble straightaway with Gautam Gambhir (8), Virender Sehwag (4), Virat Kohli (0), Yuvraj Singh (2) and Rohit Sharma (4) returning to the pavilion in quick succession as Junaid got the ball to swing under grey skies.
The Pakistani pacers took advantage of the moisture on the track and troubled the top-order batsmen with the new ball. Once the ball got a little older, Dhoni and Raina applied themselves and started rebuilding the Indian innings.
The two teams will now travel to Kolkata for the second ODI to be held on January 3 while the third and final match will be staged in New Delhi on January 6.
Pacer Junaid had justified his captain Misbah-ul-Haq’s decision to bowl first in damp conditions with struggling opener Sehwag becoming Junaid’s first victim.
The Delhi batsman swung it Pakistan’s way after slogging for 11 balls to get four runs.
Sehwag was castled by a Junaid delivery that came in a shade after pitching.
The big four of the Indian batting order were all bowled, three of them by Junaid, who seemed unplayable getting the ball to move appreciably both in the air and off the pitch.
The proverbial promising batsman of the side, Rohit added another one to his growing list of failures, becoming Junaid’s fourth victim after scratching around for 14 deliveries for his four runs.
Rohit’s last six ODI innings now read a disappointing 4, 4, 4, 0, 0 and 5. In fact, the top five managed to pull off just two fours for the team.
“It was more difficult to play in the first half. There was lot of moisture but very well played by Dhoni. He single- handedly took the game away from us but in the end (Nasir) Jamshed played brilliantly for us,” Misbah said at the post match ceremony.
“It was an excellent spell by Junaid. He has done it before in a Test match in Sri Lanka. There was something for the bowlers but of you don’t bowl in the right areas when the ball is seaming, you don’t get result. Good to see that the bowlers pitched in the right areas in helping conditions,” he added.
Dhoni, who was named Man-of-the-Match, said it was always difficult to come back in the match after losing half the team at a score 29.
“I am satisfied with my batting. There was something for the fast bowlers, but they also pitched it in the right areas. Once we lost five wickets, it was difficult to come back,” the skipper said.
It was announced later in the day that Kohli may miss the second ODI after picking up a knee injury while bowling. (PTI)
