By Amit S
February 11 2006

India win the second ODI at Rawalpindi by an overwhelming margin to level the series as Pathan, Sehwag, Yuvraj and Dravid turn in stellar performances. Inzamam-ul-Haq elected to bat first after winning the toss. Pakistan kept the same combination as the first match, while India made 2 changes, bringing in Suresh Raina into the XI and making Ramesh Powar super-sub.

For India, Irfan Pathan found some swing early on and took a wicket off the very second ball of the match, removing Salman Butt out caught behind. Man of the Match Pathan looked impressive in his first spell and removed Kamran Akmal as well in the 9th over.

Sreesanth however wasn't too impressive in his first spell, going for 39 runs in his 6 overs and focussing more on pace as he bowled in the high 130s-low 140s. Most of his bowling was outside off-stump in this spell.

Pakistan were off to a shaky start and runouts didn't help their cause either. In just the 10th over, Mohammad Yousuf was run out trying to steal a non-existent second run. Zaheer Khan, who came in next, took a big wicket with a short-pitched delivery as Inzamam was caught at mid-wicket trying to go for a pull shot.

Pakistan, at this stage were struggling at 68/4 after 13.2 overs before Younis Khan joined Shoaib Malik in a rescue act. Indian fielding today was poor, and there were a lot of misfields as well which allowed Pakistan to gradually come back into the match. Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik started off slowly in their partnership and waited for the fifth bowler to come in before they went for their runs. The lack of a regular fifth bowler clearly hurt the Indians a bit as Tendulkar was taken apart by Shoaib Malik who was getting the odd boundary with ease, and Pakistan's run rate which had slipped to 4.3 at around 23 overs was back to 5 by 30 overs.

The runouts continued for Pakistan, as Shoaib Malik was run out in the 34th over by Sreesanth. Shoaib Malik, had made 95 off 110 balls before getting out. Shahid Afridi, who came in next, was his usual self and looked to go for the big hits. But he was out for 18 as he tried to go for a big hit over cover before being caught by Kaif for an 11-ball 18.

India used Irfan Pathan's remaining overs between the 35th-40th over in the hope of picking up the remaining wickets earlier on rather than saving him for the death overs. Pakistan, at this stage, were 204/6 after 38 overs and were looking to post a 270+ score with Abdul Razzaq coming in and Younis Khan still at the crease. The Indian bowlers kept things tight here and did not give away free runs to the Pakistan batsmen. Abdur Razzaq too was eventually run out for 14 in another mix-up. Rana Naved, who came in next, struggled with the bat and failed to rotate the strike making only 6 off 12. This put some pressure on Younis Khan, who was out caught at mid-off by Kaif off Agarkar for 81, leaving Pakistan at 242/8 off 46.1 overs as India threatened to dismiss Pakistan for less than 250.

For India, Agarkar bowled a tight spell towards the end and Zaheer was bowling on the short-pitched side. Sree Santh, who was ordinary in his 1st spell, did better in his secnd spell, coming back strongly and focussing more on line and length deliveries, conceding only 13 runs in his last 4 overs to finish with 0/52. For Pakistan, Umar Gul, swung his bat a bit hitting 3 fours and making 17* off 16 balls taking the Pakistan score to 265 all out off 49.2 overs before Mohammad Asif tried to take a non-existent run before being the fourth man to be run out for Pakistan, falling 4 balls short of surving their full 50 overs, just like India in the first match, with India being 3 balls short. Indian bowling was otherwise tight, giving away only 9 extras.

During the Indian innings, Asif started off well and kept things tight by varying his line and length and making it difficult to get runs off him. Rana Naved on the other end was having a bad day and Sehwag, in murderous mood, made short work of him. Although Pakistan kept it tight in the 1st 4 overs allowing India to make only 12/0, Sehwag tore apart Rana Naved taking 22 runs off his over. Sehwag, having found his ODI form back, now looked to take runs off Asif as well. Rana Naved, after that disastrous over, was replaced by Umar Gul, who bowled well, but was unlucky to not take any wickets despite a close lbw appeal to Sehwag and a dropped caught-behind off Sachin.

For India, after Sehwag had blasted the runs hitting fours all around the park and reached 40-something, Tendulkar decided to join the party himself and started hitting a few boundaries. Both Tendulkar and Sehwag made full use of the power plays and shared a 105-run stand in just 15 overs before Tendulkar was out caught behind for 42 off 43 balls. Sehwag still continued to go for the runs, but didn't last long afterwards, run out for 67 off 60 balls. By then he had set India well on the way to victory.

Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh then took it up and both played their shots getting the occasional boundary and made runs with ease. At this time, the Pakistani bowlers looked like giving up, with their fielding looking poor as well. However, although Dravid was out caught and bowled by Shoaib Malik for 56, the match was as good as over as India eased home by 7 wickets with 41 balls to spare and Yuvraj Singh made 82* off just 89 balls.