India's middle order made amends for its failure in Bangalore, with
Yuvraj Singh dominating the Pakistan attack in the company of MS Dhoni
and propelling his team to 192. Yuvraj, treating the capacity Ahmedabad
crowd to an airshow that included seven sixes, counterattacked after
India had lost three set batsmen and gave India, playing today with four
specialist bowlers, an excellent chance of levelling the two-match
series.
The Ahmedabad track promised lots of runs, and the assistance for
Pakistan's bowlers appeared far more limited than in Bangalore. There
wasn't much movement, and the pitch played slow. Ajinkya Rahane and
Gautam Gambhir, after being put in, again set a strong foundation and
Yuvraj, who was struck hard on the toe by a Mohammad Irfan yorker but
recovered well, ensured it wasn't laid to waste as it had been in the
previous game. He added 97 in 44 balls with Dhoni, who began India's
charge off his first ball in the 12th over from Shahid Afridi,
dispatching him over extra cover.
Yuvraj seemed to be in his element, striking the ball cleanly, with a
lovely flourish and the stands on the leg side were at the receiving end
of all of his blows out of the ground. Afridi and Saeed Ajmal were
deposited towards cow corner, and two successive short balls were pulled
over the square-leg boundary. Ajmal was targeted in the penultimate
over, as Yuvraj took him for three consecutive sixes, the last of them
smacked over long-on.
The last five overs yielded 74 and though Dhoni played the supporting
role, he wasn't left far behind in his approach. He ran well between
wickets, and pulled and drove Umar Gul for two straight fours. Though
Gul picked up four wickets, accounting for India's openers and the pair
that took them towards 192, he was short of support from the rest of his
attack. Tanvir, Ajmal and Afridi each went for over 10 an over, leaving
their batsmen with a tough task, albeit in favourable conditions for
batting.
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