The much-anticipated cracker of a contest fizzled out towards the middle stages of the Pakistan innings as India came up with a clinical performance to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Till then, the proverbial capriciousness of fortune was visible in ample measures. The match seesawed countless times, giving visions of a victory to both the teams before siding with India on a warm Sunday.

At one stage, it looked Pakistan would chase down a formidable total for the second time in a row, but the Indian bowlers — after suffering some stick in the initial phase — staged a superb comeback to bundle out Pakistan for 248 for a 46-run win.

India had earlier made 294 for seven with the help of a measured half-century from Yuvraj Singh (77, 91b, 4x4, 3x6) and a brisk knock from skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (49, 52b, 4x4, 3x6) after being asked to bat first.

Early strike

Irfan Pathan expelled the dangerous Shahid Afridi early to give India a confident start. But Salman Butt, as classy as ever while stroking his way to a brilliant hundred, and Younis Khan pulverised the Indian attack with an array of dazzling strokes as a Pakistan romp loomed large.

Pathan and his new ball partner Rudra Pratap Singh had a tough time in containing the Pak duo as the visitors went past the 50-run mark in no time. But RP Singh brought the home side back into the match, castling Younis with a delivery that came back in to the batsman.

The Indian bowlers tightened their grip from that point onwards, making sure not to repeat the Mohali mistake of allowing the Pakistan batsmen to keep the scoreboard ticking at will.

The Green Park pitch too slowed down considerably, offering help to the slower bowlers, and the Indians exploited it wisely.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's sharp thinking too deserves a special mention as he introduced the right bowlers at the right time. When left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who replaced Virender Sehwag in the team, found it tough to bowl against Butt and Shoaib Malik, Dhoni replaced him with Yuvraj. The move reaped rich rewards in the first over itself as Yuvraj trapped Malik plumb in front.

The visitors, however, were in no mood to surrender meekly and stayed in the hunt through the fifth-wicket partnership between Butt — who played a magnificent innings till he got out ninth — and Misbah-ul-Haq. The duo raised 80 runs off 87 balls. Misbah got a reprieve when he was on 27 as RP Singh spilled a chance in the deep off Pathan.

But the hard-hitting right-hander could not repeat his Mohali heroics as Kartik jettisoned him soon and that was the end of the road for Pakistan. The spectators had their own fun moments in the Sohail Tanvir run out as they savoured an Indian win to the hilt.

India had a lucky start to their innings in the morning with wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal dropping Sourav Ganguly off the first ball of the match off paceman Shoaib Akhtar. The Kolkatan, along with Sachin Tendulkar, gave India a brisk start thereafter, cutting the Pakistan attack into shreds as India raced to 50 in the seventh over.

Making amends

Akmal, however, made amends for the earlier mistake when he took a brilliant catch to dismiss Tendulkar off left-arm paceman Tanvir. The two had added 68 runs for the opening wicket to provide an ideal platform for the rest to build on.

Tanvir struck again, uprooting Ganguly's off-stump and the quick jolts applied the breaks on the scoring rate.

Both Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh were kept quiet by the Pakistani slow bowlers. Gambhir soon fell, dragging an Abdur Rehman delivery on to the stumps. In came Indian captain Dhoni.

His arrival followed the most productive phase of the Indian innings. The Yuvraj-Dhoni combine was slow to begin with, but then exploded without warning. The Punjab left-hander fired the first salvo with two consecutive sixes off left-arm spinner Rehman.

Dhoni followed suit with a massive straight six off his counterpart Shoaib Malik.They added exactly 100 runs in 91 balls before Akhtar pegged Dhoni's sticks back with a slower delivery, but by then, India had reached a position of strength.