SK Flashback: When India edged past Pakistan in a last over thriller in Dambulla

The speciality of an India versus Pakistan contest is that it generates an electrifying buzz even before the commencement of the match. At times, the clash lives up to the hype with a thrilling finish, but sometimes the game turns out to be one-sided in favour of either side.

The 2010 Asia Cup clash between India and Pakistan in Dambulla saw both rivals fight tooth and nail till the very end. However, it was the Indian cricket team who came out trumps in the end by defeating Pakistan by three wickets in the Day/Night match.

Pakistan fall away after a handsome start

Salman Butt looked in fine touch at the top

On a bright and sunny afternoon, Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan skipper won the toss and elected to bat first on a decent batting deck. The Indian bowlers had to toil hard for their first wicket as Salman Butt and Imran Farhat kept the scoreboard ticking by picking up the singles and hitting the odd boundary.

After Harbhajan Singh struck first blood by snapping Farhat, Shoaib Malik joined Butt for yet another handy partnership. Nevertheless, Zaheer Khan hit the corridor of uncertainty and castled an ominous looking Shoaib Malik. Things turned from bad to worse for Pakistan soon when Butt was caught short of his crease courtesy quick reflexes by Ravindra Jadeja off his own bowling.

With wickets in back-to-back overs, Pakistan found themselves in a spot of bother as two new batsmen were at the crease. They kept on losing wickets at regular intervals because of which they couldn’t garner any sort of momentum during the remainder of their innings.

Kamran Akmal came in at the fall of the fifth wicket and shepherded the innings to a respectable target of 267 as Pakistan failed to play out the 50 overs, falling short by three deliveries. Shahid Afridi’s quick-fire knock also helped the cause for Pakistan.

The Indian bowlers, especially Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan, bowled exceptionally well in the death overs to stem the run flow by churning out wickets whenever a partnership looked to take the game away from India.

A messed up chase, but a successful one

Virender Sehwag had an uncharacteristic game

Chasing 268 would seem like a modest total for a batting powerhouse of India, but the Pakistan bowlers made it a hard grind for India. Virender Sehwag perished after playing an uncharacteristically slow knock after which India lost Virat Kohli cheaply to keep India reeling after the end of the 18^th over.

Gautam Gambhir and Mahendra Singh Dhoni got things back on track for India with a 98 run stand in 18 overs. However, Saeed Ajmal pinned Gambhir to re-ignite Pakistan’s hope of pulling off a victory. Rohit Sharma promised, but Afridi trapped him plumb in front of the wickets to give Pakistan their fourth wicket.

The body blow came in the form of Dhoni’s dismissal as Shoaib Malik bowled him round his legs. Jadeja followed suit as India stared at defeat with four wickets in the shed and 48 runs still to achieve in five overs.

Suresh Raina’s run out nearly sealed the deal for Pakistan

Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh threw the kitchen sink at everything to bring India tantalisingly close to the target. Nonetheless, Pakistan held their nerves to run Suresh Raina out as India still needed six runs from the last four deliveries.

With three runs required off the last two balls, Harbhajan smoked Mohammed Amir over mid-wicket for a six to seal the deal for India. Quite rightfully Gautam Gambhir was handed over the Man of the Match for his gritty knock of 83 runs.

Kamran Akmal and Gautam Gambhir’s face-off

There were fireworks even when the balls were not being bowled

Digressing away from cricket, the match also had its fair share of controversy as Gautam Gambhir and Kamran Akmal were involved in a heated exchange of words on the field during India’s run chase. During the 22^nd and the 23^rd over, Kamran Akmal appealed vociferously for a couple of caught-behinds of Gautam Gambhir.

In the first instance Billy Doctrove turned a decision down and in the next over, Billy Bowden called for drinks following an appeal for a catch by Akmal and Saeed Ajmal. Things turned ugly during the drinks break when Akmal and Gambhir charged towards each other during the drinks break.

It was only after MS Dhoni and the umpires’ intervention that the situation was brought under control. An India versus Pakistan contest is no short of drama and such incidents have happened pretty consistently when the two teams have locked horns.

The good news for India was that they managed to register a victory and went to the top of the table in the group games. They eventually went on to win the title, beating Sri Lanka by 81 runs in the Final of the 2010 Asia Cup at Dambulla.

Also watch: Video: Hilarious question from reporter leaves Virat Kohli confused