PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM

IN COMMAND: Yuvraj Singh's impressive unbeaten 82 steered India home comfortably against Pakistan in Rawalpindi on Saturday. Building on Virender Sehwag's rapid-fire 68-ball 67, the visiting team reached the target of 266 with 41 balls and seven wickets to spare to draw level 1-1 in the five-match ODI series.

Rawalpindi: Irfan Pathan's swing opened the sluice gates. Virender Sehwag's aggression took the game away from the host. The solidity of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh sealed the Indian victory.

With an emphatic seven-wicket win, India drew level 1-1 with Pakistan in the Hutch ODI series with three games remaining. In pursuit of Pakistan's 265, India was home and dry in 43.1 overs at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq's decision to bat, under a slight cloud cover and some moisture in the surface, proved costly for his side. Four run outs on a day when the Indian fielding was outstanding also undid the host.

Relishing the freshness in the wicket and moving the white ball appreciably, Man-of-the-Match prised out the openers and retuned to snare Shahid Afridi in his second spell.

Brilliant fielding

The Indians were also brilliant on the field. S. Sreesanth whipped in a fine throw from deep point into Dhoni's gloves to catch Shoaib Malik short of the crease. Suresh Raina scored a direct hit from mid-off to run out Abdul Razzaq.

Sehwag (67, 60b, 10x4, 1x6) sizzled when India chased. The ball was darting around in the first 40 minutes of the match when Pathan made the early inroads. When Sehwag batted the pitch, under bright sunshine, had eased out.

Mohammed Asif bowled a creditable first spell but Rana Naved-ul-Hasan provided width and was taken apart by Sehwag.

Among his rousing strokes was a trademark uppercut six over point off Rana. Pakistan seemed to be sorely missing Shoaib Akhtar.

Sehwag is so difficult to bowl at since he backs his off-side brilliance with fluency off his legs. If there is no incisive away movement, the pacemen need to bring the ball into Sehwag from just outside the off-stump, denying him the width. The Pakistani pacemen disappointed.

In fact, Sehwag's big blows dented the Pakistanis' confidence.

The third set of power play overs was put off till the 22nd over (after Sehwag's dismissal) which made things easier for the later batsmen.

Tendulkar (42, 43b, 8x4) seemed circumspect, but gathered runs at a healthy clip. The opening pair put on 105 off 94 balls. Tendulkar eventually fell to an away going delivery from Abdul Razzaq, and Sehwag was run out off a Umar Gul throw from fine leg, which Akmal, interestingly, failed to gather.

Fruitful partnership

Rahul Dravid (56, 61b, 5x4), back to the No. 3 slot, and Yuvraj Singh (82 not out, 89b, 8x4, 2x6) batted beautifully. Dravid drove, cut and flicked with panache. Yuvraj struck the ball with great confidence off his front foot, on both sides of the wicket.

When the ball was pitched short, he quickly rocked onto his back foot. Inzamam-ul-Haq's decision to bat would have been influenced by the fact that in the last two ODIs here, the winning sides successfully defended totals of just over 200. But then, those were day-night matches where the evening dew could have made the pitch sluggish.

Pathan was certainly not complaining. Off his second delivery, the left-armer dismissed the in-form southpaw Salman Butt with a delivery that moved away.

Dashing wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal chopped a delivery, a slower ball coming into him by Pathan onto his stumps. Pakistan slumped into further trouble when Mohammed Yousuf saw Tendulkar recovering quickly from a misfield at square leg and fire in a throw to Raina at the non-striker's end.

Inzamam-ul-Haq attempted to turn Zaheer Khan only to top-edge a catch to mid-on. The Pakistan innings was in a mess at 68 for four.

The Indians had gambled by entering the contest with four pacemen and no specialist spinner in the XI. Tendulkar and Sehwag conceded 65 runs in 10 overs between them, which under the conditions was acceptable.

Malik misses century

The Pakistani innings was put on the rails by a 102-run partnership off 119 deliveries between the fluent Shoaib Malik (95, 110b, 13x4) and Younis Khan (81, 98b, 9x4). Malik had his moments of uncertainty when Sreesanth took the ball away from him, but was quick to pounce on the slightest width offered by the pacemen.

The hard-running Younis was, as usual, energetic in the middle. Malik was involved in a collision with bowler Zaheer while scampering for a run.

The Pakistani innings failed to gain the required momentum after Malik's dismissal. Sreesanth bowled a fine second spell to peg the Pakistanis back in the end overs. Agarkar and Zaheer performed their roles well. It was a good team effort from India.

The Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf, watched the match.

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