Former captain Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf paritied in the middle. They punished the bad balls, otherwise picking singles and twos. Malik scored a wonderful century that put Pakistan on the driver's seat. The 4th wicket partnership was a record 206 runs in 188 overs.
I would the bowling as a very average and none of the bowlers looked dangerous. Pakistani batsmen handled the bowling attack very well and never had any pressure or fear. After the departure of Yusuf for 87 in the 46th over, India did not give too many runs. Last 4 overs went for 31 runs and also gave India 5 wickets. One wicket in the middle would have changed the match.
Skipper failed to put pressure on two new batsmen at the crease and did not rotate the bowlers well. Missing Yuvaraj and Sehwag was a key as they both could have bowled few overs.
Harbhajan was not effective and Pathan as well. Nehra picked 4 wickets and Ishanth picked 2.
Chasing 303, with Sachin gone early was a difficult task for India, especially against Pakistan. Mohammed Aamer had his day and should have been celebrating even now as he picked the prize wicket of the master batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar. The ball pitched up swung again, which took the edge on the way to the keeper.
Gambhir and Dravid added 67 for the 2nd wicket. Both were playing well, especially Gambhir was in full flow. He hit couple of huge sixes and brough India back into the required run rate. A poor calling and mis-understanding had Gambhir back to the pavilion with Younis Khan hitting the sticks directly from mid off.
Kohli never looked dangerous for Pakistanis. He scored 16 runs for India before Afridi had him caught by Umar Gul. Dhoni too did not last long in the crease.
It was Raina who played some good shots in the middle overs along with Dravid. Raina hit 2 good sixes in his 46. Fate had different story for Raina and India when umpire decided a poor leg before decision. The ball clearly hit the bat but umpire thought otherwise. The 70-run partnership came to an end due to poor umpiring. When Raina got out, India needed 98 runs in 15 overs with 5 wickets in hand.
The batsmen could not play sensibly as all required were singles for few overs and then few hits during batting powerplay. Yousuf Pathan got out for 5 in 10 balls, Harbhajan scored 13 in 22. Dravid was run out for 76 in 103 balls.
At the end, India were short by 54 runs. Aamer, Naved-ul-Hasan, Ajmal and Afridi picked 2 wickets each. India has to win their next match against Australia on Monday, Sep 28. If they lose it, they will be out of the tournament as Aussies and Pakistanis would have won 2 matches.
So, it is a do-or-die match for both India against Australia on Sep. 28.
Scoreboard:
Match # 6, Group A
Date: Saturday Sep 26, 2009
Teams: Pakistan v. India
Captains: Younis Khan and Dhoni
Toss: Pakistan, decided to bat
Venue: SuperSport Park, Centurion
Result: Pakistan won by 54 runs
Points: Pakistan 2; India 0
Man of the Match: S Malika off Pakistan
Pakistan Innings:
| Batsman | How Out | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s |
| I Nazir | c Harbhajan b A Nehra | 20 | 17 | 4 | 0 |
| K Akmal | b A Nehra | 19 | 22 | 3 | 0 |
| Younis Khan | c Dhoni b RP Singh | 20 | 33 | 3 | 0 |
| S Malik | c Y Pathan b Harbhajan | 128 | 126 | 16 | 0 |
| M Yousuf | b A Nehra | 87 | 88 | 7 | 0 |
| S Afridi | c Dhoni b Y Pathan | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Umar Akmal | c Dhoni b A Nehra | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Naved-ul-Hasan | not out | 11 | 8 | 1 | 0 |
| Umar Gul | c Raina b I Sharma | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| M Aamer | c Kohli b I Sharma | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| S Ajmal | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Extras | (lb 1, w 12) | 13 | - | - | - |
| Total | for 9 wkts in 50 overs | 302 | - | - | - |
Fall of Wickets: 1-29 (Imran Nazir, 4.2 ov), 2-53 (Kamran Akmal, 8.5 ov), 3-65 (Younis Khan, 14.4 ov), 4-271 (Mohammad Yousuf, 45.6 ov), 5-278 (Shahid Afridi, 46.6 ov), 6-289 (Umar Akmal, 47.5 ov), 7-300 (Shoaib Malik, 48.6 ov), 8-301 (Umar Gul, 49.3 ov), 9-302 (Mohammad Aamer, 49.5 ov)
| Bowler | O | M | R | W |
| A Nehra | 10 | 0 | 55 | 4 |
| RP Singh | 9 | 1 | 59 | 1 |
| I Sharma | 8 | 2 | 39 | 2 |
| V Kohli | 3 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| Y Pathan | 10 | 0 | 56 | 1 |
| Harbhajan | 10 | 0 | 71 | 1 |
India Innings: (303 to win in 50 overs)
| Batsman | How Out | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s |
| Gambhir | run out (Younis Khan) | 57 | 46 | 7 | 2 |
| Sachin | c K Akmal b M Aamer | 8 | 14 | 1 | 0 |
| Dravid | run out (Umar Gul/K Akmal) | 76 | 103 | 4 | 0 |
| V Kohli | c Umar Gul b S Afridi | 16 | 24 | 1 | 0 |
| Dhoni | lbw b S Afridi | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Raina | lbw b S Ajmal | 46 | 41 | 5 | 2 |
| Y Pathan | c sub Misbah b M Aamer | 5 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Harbhajan | b S Ajmal | 13 | 22 | 1 | 0 |
| RP Singh | c M Yousuf b Naved-ul-Hasan | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| I Sharma | b Naved-ul-Hasan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A Nehra | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Extras | (lb 4, w 11, nb 7) | 22 | - | - | - |
| Total | all out in 44.5 overs | 248 | - | - | - |
Fall of Wickets: 1-23 (Tendulkar, 4.1 ov), 2-90 (Gambhir, 13.5 ov), 3-126 (Kohli, 21.3 ov), 4-133 (Dhoni, 23.5 ov), 5-205 (Raina, 34.6 ov), 6-218 (Pathan, 38.2 ov), 7-238 (Dravid, 41.6 ov), 8-243 (Singh, 43.4 ov), 9-244 (Sharma, 43.6 ov), 10-248 (Harbhajan Singh, 44.5 ov)
| Bowler | O | M | R | W |
| M Aamer | 8 | 0 | 46 | 2 |
| Naved-ul-Hasan | 9 | 0 | 48 | 2 |
| Umar Gul | 6 | 0 | 55 | 0 |
| S Ajmal | 8.5 | 0 | 31 | 2 |
| S Afridi | 10 | 0 | 39 | 2 |
| S Malik | 3 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
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