Tendulkar leads India to a comfortable win by AFP

---

Ground:	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Scorecard:	Pakistan v India
Player:	SR Tendulkar
Event:	India in Pakistan 2005/06

---

DateLine: 13th February 2006

 

Top Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar scored a brilliant 95 as India beat Pakistan by five wickets in the third one-day international at the Gaddafi stadium here on Monday.

 

Yuvraj Singh also notched 79 while Mahendra Dhoni smashed a quickfire 42-ball 72 not out as the tourists reached the 289 target with 14 deliveries to spare to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

 

Pakistan, missing pace spearhead Shoaib Akhtar who was ruled out of the series with an ankle injury, failed to contain the powerful Indian batting, led by Tendulkar and powered by Yuvraj and Dhoni.

 

Tendulkar, dropped on 36 when Kamran Akmal failed to get a leg-side glance off Umar Gul, took India to 189 before cutting Abdul Razzaq straight to substitute Imran Frahat at point.

 

Tendulkar hit 16 boundaries and a six during his 104-ball knock.

 

Dhoni, who hit 13 fours, helped Yuvraj continue the good work during an unfinished 102-run stand for the sixth wicket which came off just 79 deliveries.

 

Yuvraj, who hit 82 not out in India's win in the second match at Rawalpindi, smashed ten boundaries during his 87-ball knock.

 

India got off to a disappointing start when Pakistan paceman Mohammad Asif dismissed Gautum Gambhir (two) and Irfan Pathan (nought) in the third over.

 

Tendulkar then steadied the innings with a 70-run third wicket stand with skipper Rahul Dravid (22) and added another 105 for the fourth wicket with Yuvraj to put India on the road to victory.

 

Pakistan's innings was built around Malik's fifth one-day hundred. He led Pakistan's recovery from a precarious 128-5 after Pakistan were sent into bat in good bowling conditions.

 

The 23-year-old right-hander made a fighting 86-run stand for the seventh wicket with Abdul Razzaq (64 not out). Malik's 120-ball knock was studded with eleven boundaries and a six.

 

Malik, who survived a chance on 12 when Gautum Gambhir dropped him off paceman Sri Sreesanth, held the innings after left-arm fast bowlers Pathan (3-49) and Rudra Pratap Singh (3-51) caused the early damage.

 

Pathan removed opener Salman Butt (nought) with a sharp outswinger off the second ball of the innings and then had dangerous-looking Shahid Afridi (19) in his fourth over.

 

First-change Singh then struck two telling blows, sending Kamran Akmal (34) and Mohammad Yousuf (one) back to the pavilion as the home team failed to capitalise on four dropped catches -- all off Sreesanth.

 

Yousuf, however, completed his 7,000 one-day runs with the single, becoming the fifth Pakistan behind Inzamam-ul Haq, Saeed Anwar, Javed Miandad and Salim Malik to reach the milestone.

 

Malik and Inzamam took Pakistan to 128 before Tendulkar dismissed Inzamam (16), while Singh returned for his second spell to have Younis Khan (16) caught behind.

 

Once Malik holed out to Pathan in the 47th over, Razzaq lifted the total by smashing seven fours and two sixes to get Pakistan to a challenging total.

 

Pakistan won the first match at Peshawar by seven runs. The fourth match will be played at Multan on Thursday and the fifth and final in Karachi on February 19.

(Article: Copyright © 2006 AFP)