Yuvraj, Dhoni power India to 294/6

Late recovery
India scored 89 runs in the last ten overs to take the total to 294. At the end of 30 overs, the hosts were placed at 136/3, hoping to reach a total in excess of 260. Pathan (17) played a cameo at the end to counter a Pakistani fightback.

Birthday boy Robin Uthappa (17) was unfortunate to miss out after striking two massive sixes during his stay at the crease. Umar Gul (1/70) proved to be extremely expensive during the death overs. Shoaib Akhtar (1/40) was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers.

Splendid Yuvi
Yuvraj was tentative to start with and took time to adjust before exploding with four boundaries and three sixes in his 95-ball stay. Dhoni was punishing right from the start and hit two fours and two sixes in just 52 deliveries.

Put into bat, Sourav Ganguly (39) and Sachin Tendulkar (29), particularly the left-hander, survived some torrid moments before giving India a good start via a 68-run opening stand. And when they departed, Yuvraj and Dhoni took up the beat and featured in a century stand to swell the tally, which turned out to be the highest score at the venue.

Shoaib Malik won a crucial toss and inserted India, hoping his pace battery to exploit whatever assistance Green Park's not-so-green strip had to offer. But his luck seemed to have ended with the toss as the first ball of the innings kissed Ganguly's (39) tentative blade and flew to Kamran Akmal who made a mess of it and grassed the sitter.

The Rawalpindi Express' frustration found manifestations in two wide balls that followed.

With Akhtar and Umar Gul posing difficult questions, Ganguly groped to find the meat of the blade. Gul twice pushed the ball through the gates and also induced an edge that raced to boundary through a vacant second slip. Ganguly somehow hung around to overcome the shaky start. He repeatedly came down the track to upset Gul's rhythm and hit him over long off for a six.

Scorecard