A couple of months before the World Cup, Suresh Raina had slipped unnoticed into Kolkata. He had one destination and one person to visit – former India skipper Sourav Ganguly. Maligned for his inability to play the short, rising ball, Raina sought the help of Ganguly, who corrected his deficiencies.
The result was there for everyone to see at the Adelaide Oval Sunday as Raina (74, 56b, 5×4, 3×6) mauled Pakistan bowlers to all parts of the ground to set up a 76-run victory over the arch rivals and maintain India’s superiority over their neighbours across the border.
Yes, Virat Kohli (107, 126b, 8×4) and Shikhar Dhawan (73, 76b, 7×4, 1×6) did also make notable contributions, but it was Raina’s knock which enabled India to reach the psychological 300-run mark. The value of his innings assumes significance as only 27 runs came in the last five overs as Sohail Khan (5/55) and Wahab Riaz (1/49) bowled very well at the death to restrict India, who at one point of time looked like registering a 330-plus score.
India lost Rohit Sharma early on, the batsman failing to judge Sohail’s pace and was caught at short mid-wicket by Misbah ul-Haq. But both Dhawan and Kohli, playing with circumspect and caution put on 129 runs for the second wicket to establish a sound foundation for India.
Both have not been in good touch in recent times and were content to stick to rotate the strike with singles. Kohli, however, was distinctly lucky – when on three, Yasir Shah failed to latch on to a running effort from the long-on boundary. Then immediately after Dhawan’s dismissal, he was dropped by wicket-keeper Umar Akmal when he was at 76. He benefitted from these lapses and went on to record his 22nd century in ODIs, equalling Ganguly.
Dhawan fell, run out due to a misunderstanding with Kohli with Misbah hitting the stumps at the non-strikers end from mid-wicket with pin point precision.
But then in stepped Raina, and he completely dominated the Pakistan bowling with an innings of sheer power. Regaling the crowd with leg-side shots, he targeted the area from fine-leg to mid-wicket. Raina hit both Shahid Afridi and Shah for huge sixes over square-leg and mid-wicket. A straight-driven four and a flick to the leg off Sohail were also a delight to watch. Kohli, meanwhile, reached his century and proved once more that he is a player for the big stage.
Pakistan never looked in command even when they were 102 for two in the 24th over. The departure of Ahmed Shehzad, Shoaib Maqsood (0) and Umar Akmal (0) in the space of 14 deliveries completely destroyed their chances. Misbah continued to enthrall the crowd with some lovely shots in the arc between long-off to mid-wicket, but then he was fighting a losing cause.
Among the four wickets, Shami would probably relish the one of Younis Khan the most. The opener was beaten for pace as he tried to keep down a snorter and could only glove it for a Mahendra Singh Dhoni to take a dolly. He also dismissed Misbah, caught at mid-on by Ajinkya Rahane, but by then the required run-rate for Pakistan had increased to somewhere around 14. Both Ravi Ashwin (1/41) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/56) bowled tidy spells. Ashwin’s first three overs were brilliant as he weaved a magical web around the Pak batters and got the wicket of Haris Sohail caught at slip by Raina. It signalled the events about to unfold.
Scoreboard:
(India): Rohit Sharma c Misbah b Sohail 15, Shikhar Dhawan r o 73, Virat Kohli c Akmal b Sohail 107, Suresh Raina c Haris b Sohail 74, M S Dhoni c Misbah b Sohail 18, Ravindra Jadeja b Riaz 3, Ajinkya Rahane b Sohail 0, Ravi Ashwin n o 1, Mohammed Shami n o 3; Extras: (lb-2, w-3, nb-1) 6; Total: (for seven wickets) 300.
Fall: 1/3, 2/163, 3/273, 4/284, 5/296, 6/296, 7/296.
Bowling: Mohammad Irfan 10-0-58-0, Sohail Khan 10-0-55-5, Shahid Afridi 8-0-50-0, Wahab Riaz 10-0-49-1, Yasir Shah 8-0-60-0, Haris Sohail 4-0-26-0.
(Pakistan): Ahmed Shehzad c Jadeja b Yadav 47, Younis Khan c Dhoni b Shami 6, Haris Sohail c Raina b Ashwin 36, Misbah-ul-Haq c Rahane b Shami 76, Sohaib Maqsood c Raina b Yadav 0, Umar Akmal c Dhoni b Jadeja 0, Shahid Afridi c Kohli b Mohammed Shami 22, Wahab Riaz c Dhoni b Shami 4, Yasir Shah Yadav b Mohit 13, Sohail Khan c Yadav b Mohit 7, Mohammad Irfan n o 1; Extras (lb-1, w-10, nb-1) 12; Total (all out in 47 overs) 224.
Fall: 1/11, 2/79, 3/102, 4/102, 5/103, 6/149, 7/154, 8/203, 9/220.
Bowling: Umesh Yadav 10-0-50-2, Mohammed Shami 9-1-35-4, Mohit Sharma 9-0-35-2, Suresh Raina 1-0-6-0, Ravi Ashwin 8-3-41-1, Ravindra Jadeja 10-0-56-1.
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