India go to New Zealand via New Jersey

There is no doubt there is great camaraderie among the members of the M. S. Dhoni-led Indian side. The way the players have fun in the company of each other was for all too see here on Wednesday at the launch of the new Indian ODI kit by Nike. Master of ceremonies Harsha Bhogle kept the audience in good humour with his short Q&A sessions with MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik and Pragyan Ojha all of who walked the ramp in the new outfit.

"I am a bit scared of heights. I have not tried bungee jumping," said Dhoni, who has been invited by Ministry of Tourism in Auckland to try bungee jumping. "According to the contract (the players sign contracts with the BCCI before every tour), we cannot do bungee jumping."

Yuvraj Singh was at his usual witty self with his answers, choosing to add a 'ask Dhoni' to all his replies. Asked if he was happy batting at No. 4, Yuvraj said: "Very happy, but you have to ask Dhoni. He decides the batting order".

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Pakistan provide surprise again

It’s no secret that Pakistan are an unpredictable outfit. It’s how they manage to reiterate the point time and again that never ceases to surprise.

They had to win Wednesday’s encounter to stay in contention for a place in the Asia Cup final, their coach was caught in the middle of an ugly war of words with the local media and their captain — under pressure to retain the top job — had collapsed during a fitness test before start of play.

Then, after India had elected to bat first, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir tore into their bowling attack with such ferocity that 10 overs into the day’s play, a defeat looked almost a certainty.

But this is Pakistan, the team that can never be written off.

They pulled things back after the initial onslaught to restrict the Indian total to 308 — Dhoni & Co looked set for bigger things after the torrid start — and then, they chased it down with enough conviction to leave anyone who was watching wondering why they had been written off.

Incidentally, Pakistan’s eight-wicket win has made India’s match against Sri Lanka on Thursday a virtual semi-final now. The kind of form the Lankans have been in, Dhoni & Co will have to get everything right to keep their hopes alive. A loss, on the other hand, will see Pakistan take on Lanka for the title.

Start to finish

But first, the chase. Salman Butt’s 36 off 31 balls set the ball rolling, flashes of brilliance bringing runs from both sides of the wicket. The young opener pulled and drove as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for once, hesitated in continuing any of his attacking pairs for longer than two or three over spells. Ishant Sharma, visibly exhausted, went for as many as 16 in his first over, allowing Nasir Jamshed, in the process, to settle down alongside Butt.

India’s brightest spark while resisting the chase came when Gautam Gambhir ran Butt out. Then, 10 overs later Jamshad succumbed — retired hurt to a bout of cramps, while Mohammad Yousuf was bowled round his legs by Piyush Chawla soon after.

That was as far as India got though. The openers had given their team a great start and once the platform was set, Younis Khan got his bat to do the talking until the winning runs were scored. Khan was unbeaten on 123 as Pakistan strolled to an eight-wicket victory with 27 deliveries to spare.

Dhoni’s fireworks

Earlier, Mahendra Singh Dhoni had cashed on an excellent 88-run opening stand provided by Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, and despite a brief collapse, led India past the 300-mark along with Rohit Sharma.

Strengthening the middle-order has been one of the big talking points in recent times, at least as far as Dhoni goes. The Indian captain, among other things, has repeatedly spoken about finding ways to improve the run-rate between the 30th and 45th over of the innings, using innovating stroke play to get runs when the powerplays are not on and including batsmen who could stem the rot in case of a top-order collapse.

Yesterday, Dhoni himself played all those roles as India put up 308 for seven in their 50 overs.

However, as things turned out, it was never going to be enough. Not once Pakistan had decided this was the day they were going to provide the surprise.