Praveen Kumar grabbed four early wickets and Virender Sehwag smashed a robust half-century as India thrashed Pakistan by 140 runs on Tuesday.
India bowled Pakistan out for 190 after posting a formidable 330-8 in the day-night match on a slow track, thanks to superb performances from paceman Kumar (4-53) and opener Sehwag (89).
The defeat also ended Pakistan’s 12-match winning streak.
PHOTO: AFP
Kumar, playing only his sixth one-dayer, pressed home the advantage given by man-of-the-match Sehwag, opener Gautam Gambhir (62) and Yuvraj Singh (55) as he grabbed four wickets in a disciplined opening spell.
“It was an important toss to win and Sehwag and Gambhir gave us an ideal start. They batted well and I am happy with our performance,” captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said after one of India’s biggest wins over Pakistan.
“We exploited the conditions well and our bowling was up to the mark,” he said.
The 21-year-old Kumar wrecked the top order when he dismissed Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Kamran Akmal to send Pakistan reeling at 81-4 in the 13th over.
Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, 19, also kept the pressure on the Pakistani batsmen as he finished with 4-40.
Skipper Shoaib Malik top-scored with 53, but Pakistan had virtually lost the match after suffering the early blows. Opener Kamran Akmal (38), Misbah-ul-Haq (24) and Shahid Afridi (23) were the other main scorers.
“It was a bad day. Our bowlers did not bowl in the right areas and India batted very well,” Malik said.
India’s batting earlier flourished as Gambhir and Sehwag made the most of Pakistan’s fielding lapses to help their team set a stiff target.
Sehwag was let off once and left-handed Gambhir twice before putting their team on course for a big total with a 155-run stand for the opening wicket.
Yuvraj then cashed in on a brisk start, reaching his half-century with a six off leg-spinner Afridi. He cracked three sixes and as many fours in his 54-ball knock.
Gambhir was on four when dropped by Younis in the slips off paceman Umar Gul in the opening over and then on 29 when let off by the same fielder from left-arm seamer Wahab Riaz.
Sehwag survived a chance on 43, grassed by wicket-keeper Akmal off fast bowler Iftikhar Rao.
Pakistan paid dearly for these lapses as the Indians dominated the attack with attractive strokes on both sides of the wicket. Sehwag smashed one six and 13 fours in his 26th half-century and Gambhir six boundaries in his eighth 50.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later