Dhoni, Raina trying to consolidate after Junaid Khan bamboozled Indian top-order in 1st ODI at Chennai

Pakistan pace-attack responded to Misbah-ul-Haq’s call, and troubled India with the new ball. Team Green’s skipper won the toss, and without any hesitation decided to field first.

The Chennai wicket looked good, but there was surely some dampness beneath the surface due to heavy showers yesterday. Junaid Khan, however, didn’t rely on the conditions, and bowled some extraordinary deliveries.

The Men in Blue took a shaky start, as both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were not comfortable against Junaid and lanky Mohammad Irfan. Both left-arm pacemen confused the opposing batsmen with pace and swing.

The first wicket finally fell at the end of fourth over, and Junaid disturbed Sehwag’s furniture with a beauty. The ball came back sharply, and Sehwag who showed no foot-work was completely unable to get it.

The blistering opener went back to the pavilion after scoring just eight runs, including a boundary. In the very next over, Irfan did the trick, and clean-bowled Gambhir. The left-hander failed to tackle the swinging delivery, and lost his wicket after getting
just four runs.

Kohli was the next to go. Junaid bamboozled him with a swinging delivery. The right-hander showed full face of the bat, but the delivery was so sharp that it went through. The number-3 batsman went back without opening his account.

Yuvraj Singh played across the line, and lost his wicket for two. From wide of the crease, the ball was coming towards Yuvraj in the air, but it did swing away from hitting the turf. The left-hander soon realised that he should have played with the straight
bat.

Rohit Sharma played a few balls cautiously, but could not survive long. Mohammad Hafeez took a great catch at the slip cordon, showing Sharma the way back to the dressing room. At 29, half of India’s side was back in the pavilion.

The Cornered Tigers were on fire, looking for more wickets. But both Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina showed some fight, and took the score to 60s after first 15 overs. Both batsmen are still at the crease, looking to consolidate. A lot will depend
on Saeed Ajmal now, because he could prove dangerous.

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Dec 30 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry