3 famous wins for Team India against Pakistan in Asia Cup

#2 India vs Pakistan at Dambulla on 19th June, 2010

Dhoni and Gambhir put on 98 runs for the 3rd wicket

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. Pakistan, helped by Salman Butt (74), Shoaib Malik (39) and Kamran Akmal (51), reached 267 in their allotted 50 overs. For India, Praveen Kumar took 3 wickets while Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh took 2 wickets each.

Chasing 268 for a win, India were 82 for the loss of Sehwag and Kohli’s wickets. When everyone expected Rohit Sharma to come in at the fall of Kohli’s wicket, Captain Dhoni promoted himself in the batting order and walked in at No 4 to join Gautam Gambhir.

To start with, Dhoni was slow but Gambhir at the other end took care of the scoring. Gambhir reached his 50 off 51 balls with 5 fours. India reached 150 in the 32nd over. Dhoni reached his 50 off 53 balls. Gambhir and Dhoni added 98 runs for the 3rd wicket.

Just when the whole of India thought the two batsmen would take their team home, Gambhir was cleaned by Saeed Ajmal for 83 runs off 97 balls. He was soon followed by Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, and Jadeja.

India, from a comfortable position at 208 for 3, slipped to 219 for 6. Saeed Ajmal took 3 wickets in the middle. India needed 49 runs from 5 overs when Harbhajan Singh joined Suresh Raina.

In the 46th over, bowled by Ajmal, Raina hit a six and a four to reduce the target to 36 runs from 24 balls. The 47th over was bowled by Shoaib Akhtar. He bowled a length ball to Harbhajan who deposited the ball into the long-on stands. At the end of the 47th over, India needed 27 runs from 18 balls.

Mohammad Amir bowled the 48th over to Raina. India scored 11 runs in that over to reach 252 for 6 by the end of the 48th over. Akhtar’s first ball of the 49th over was a short one to Raina which sat up nicely on Raina. He pulled it over square leg for a six. In the 49th over, Harbhajan had an altercation with Shoaib Akhtar, which rekindled the spirits of Bhajji.

When Mohammad Amir started the last over, India were 7 runs away from the target. Raina took a single off the first ball. 6 runs were then needed from 5 balls. Harbhajan couldn’t connect the next ball and Raina, in a desperate attempt to get back to strike, called Harbhajan for a bye. But Kamran Akmal got a direct hit and Raina had to leave at a crucial stage of the match.

Now 5 runs were needed from 4 balls. The new batsman, Praveen Kumar guided the third ball of the over to the third man region where Akhtar fumbled to allow Praveen Kumar to come back for the second run. After his row with Harbhajan, Shoaib Akhtar was a little bit rattled.

3 runs were now needed from 3 balls. Praveen Kumar cut the fourth ball to point to take a single.

2 runs now were needed from 2 balls. Mohammad Amir was at the top of his bowling mark as Harbhajan surveyed the field. Amir had a good match until then. All he had to do was to finish well. At the batting end, Harbhajan was fully charged up after his confrontation with Akhtar.

Amir came running in and bowled a length ball to Harbhajan. The latter, with a big swing of the bat, simply smoked that ball over mid-wicket to complete a dramatic win for India. That Harbhajan’s six brought back memories of Javed Miandad’s famous last-ball six off Chetan Sharma. Perhaps it was payback time for Team India. They finally reached the target with just one ball to spare.

To top it all, India won the 2010 Asia Cup, beating the home team Sri Lanka in the final by 81 runs.