At times, it is tough to get the adrenalin flowing in matches with not much at stake. But the fifth and final one-dayer, a game of only academic interest, was never short of exciting moments. Both India and Pakistan dished out close to their best, but the latter showed a little more purpose to emerge winners.

Chasing a formidable 307 to win, Indians made a brave fist of the task, but fell 31-run short. However, the Indians took the series 3-2.

Earlier, fifties from skipper Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf propelled Pakistan to 306 after put into bat.

A classic little cameo from Sachin Tendulkar notwithstanding, the star of the early part of the second innings was left-arm paceman Sohail Tanvir. The Rawalpindi bowler tested the frontline Indian batsmen with considerable pace and movement, and they failed to survive the trial.

Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag did not contribute anything substantially before perishing to Tanvir. Tendulkar promised another masterclass, and it was one till he lasted in the middle, but a clever piece of field placement resulted in his dismissal.

Pakistan skipper Malik brought Misbah-ul-Haq couple of feet in front of the usual gully position and the Mumbaikar only managed to give a tame catch to him off Tanvir, attempting to beat the fielder. But the dismissal of Robin Uthappa was quite an unbelievable one.

Uthappa edged Rao Iftikar to Misbah at first slip in the third ball of the seventh over, but the fielder messed up the chance. The Bangalore lad fell immediately, helping Misbah to atone for his failure, snicking Iftikar to him and this time the fielder was up to the task.

It was quite an unnecessary act, considering the size of the total India were chasing. At 62 for four, it was always going to be an uphill task for the hosts. But, to their credit, they managed to stay in the hunt as Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma added 81 brisk runs for the fifth-wicket.

In good touch
They batted fluently and the stiff target never appeared to weigh in their minds. But Sharma, after reaching his half-century, holed out to Yasir Hameed off Malik, and Yuvraj, who also made a fine fifty, too returned to the pavilion soon. The Punjab left-hander had every reason to be aggrieved as Umar Gul's rising delivery appeared to have brushed his sleeves than the willow. A left ankle strain reduced Mahendra Singh Dhoni's efficiency as India's chase fizzled out towards the end.

Earlier, the Indian bowlers struggled to reach their normal standard as Pakistan produced a fine batting display to rattle up a formidable total. It needed a false shot from Salman Butt for India to get the first breakthrough. The left-hander hooked S Sreesanth but without much timing, and Rohit Sharma, at mid-off, was left with the job of completing a simple catch. Before that, Butt and Imran Nazir had shared a 65-run partnership for the opening wicket.

Sreesanth, who dished out a pedestrian opening spell, 3-0-20-0, seemed to gather steam from that wicket. Suddenly, the Kerala paceman cranked up the speed and found some bounce that was non-existent in his first spell. He soon accounted for Hameed and Nazir to leave Pakistan in a quandary.

India’s joy ended there as Yousuf and Malik played solid cricket from the 17th over till they were separated in the 43rd over. They added 168 runs in 153 balls to knock the stuffing out of the Indians.

India did not have a fifth specialist bowler to tighten things up in the middle overs. That duty was shared by Sehwag and Yuvraj, but they conceded 73 runs in their 10 overs. The latter had some solace as he took the wicket of Yousuf.


SCORE BOARD
PAKISTAN
Butt c Rohit b Sreesanth 36
(49b, 6x4)
Nazir c&b Sreesanth 20
(40b, 3x4)
Hameed c Dhoni b Sreesanth 1
(5b)
Yousuf st Dhoni b Yuvraj 74
(82b, 4x4)
Malik st Dhoni b Kartik 89
(82b, 6x4, 2x6)
Misbah c&b Pathan 22
(17b, 1x4, 1x6)
Alam (not out) 32
(23b, 2x4, 1x6)
Tanvir (not out) 3
(3b)

Extras (LB-10, W-18, NB-1) 29

Total (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 306
Fall of wickets: 1-65 (Butt), 2-70 (Hameed), 3-77 (Nazir), 4-245 (Malik), 5-261 (Yousuf), 6-299 (Misbah).

Bowling: Praveen Kumar 10-1-50-0 (w-1, nb-1), Sreesanth 10-1-52-3 (w-4), I Pathan 10-0-59-1 (w-2), Kartik 10-0-62-1 (w-2), Sehwag 4-0-26-0 (w-1), Yuvraj 6-0-47-1 (w-8).

Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 18/1, 10: 45/0, 15: 70/2, 20: 91/3, 25: 115/3, 30: 145/3, 35: 182/3, 40: 225/3, 45: 265/5, end of innings: 306/6 in 50 overs.

Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 45/0, Power Play 2: 11-15 overs: 25/2, Power Play 3: 16-20 overs: 21/1.

INDIA
Gambhir b Tanvir 12
(15b, 2x4)
Tendulkar c Misbah b Tanvir 30
(27b, 6x4)
Uthappa c Misbah b Iftikar 1
(10b)
Sehwag c Sarfraz b Tanvir 10
(13b, 1x4)
Sharma c Hameed b Malik 52
(63b, 3x4, 1x6)
Yuvraj c Sarfraz b Gul 50
(62b, 3x4, 1x6)
Dhoni c Nazir b Malik 24
(32b, 1x4)
Pathan b Tanvir 43
(39b, 4x4, 1x6)
Praveen c Tanvir b Malik 12
(13b, 1x4)
Kartik c Nazir b Iftikar 16
(10b, 1x4, 1x6)
Sreesanth (not out) 10
(16b, 1x4)
Extras (LB-4, W-11) 15

Total (all out in 49.5 overs) 275

Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Gambhir), 2-26 (Uthappa), 3-57 (Tendulkar), 4-62 (Sehwag), 5-143 (Sharma), 6-188 (Yuvraj), 7-195 (Dhoni), 8-214 (Praveen), 9-238 (Kartik).

Bowling: Gul 10-0-49-1 (w-1), Tanvir 9.5-0-53-4 (w-7), Iftikar 10-1-52-2 (w-1), Alam 10-0-56-0, Malik 10-0-61-3 (w-2)

Scoring Patterns: 5 overs: 20/0, 10: 57/3, 15: 71/4, 20: 93/4, 25: 118/4, 30: 153/5, 35: 183/5, 40: 217/8, 45: 245/9, end of Innings: 275 all out in 49.5 overs.

Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10: 57/3; Power Play 2: 11-15: 14/1; Power Play 3: 16-20: 22/0.