India faltered once again in the finals of the Kitply Cup played in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Men-in-Blue went down fighting to their arch rivals, Pakistan, after both India and pakistan got the better of the hosts to set up an expected final.
For the second time a 300+ score was achieved by the team batting first. And both the time it was well-defended. At one stage a score of above even 225 was not expted off Pakistan let alone 300. The team century came almost at the half way stage. It took a long time because the Indians grabbed the early wicket of Akmal, at the score of 34, to put the pressure.
Then in came Younis Khan to join Salman Butt. And signalled the beginning of an epic partnership. Both Khan and Butt began cautiously. Their first task was not to lose any wickets and secondly keep the scoreboard ticking. They were overly successful in the former and started scoring freely as they were set.
Younis Khan seemed to be more aggressive, especially against Chawla. Though both of them hit 3 sixes Khan's innings was a delight to watch for the Pakistani fans. Taking the proceedings in charge, both piled up runs on runs. Among them, Younis and Butt hit 20 fours and 6 sixes, played 235 and scored 237 runs and their partnership was worth 205 runs.
After these two, a little cameo from Misbah saw more hits to and over the fence. His 33 came from just 21 balls. Captain Malik too scored at more than a run a ball with 2 boundaries. The flow of runs finally came to an end, much to delight of the Indians, but that too when the last legal delivery was bowled. But till then the scoreboard was boasting of a total of 315. That unexpected total surely put on larger than life size smiles on the Pakistanis after their shaky start to their innings earlier.
The Indian chase was too a messy affair and slow as Sehwag consumed 8 balls for his 2. Apart from that he was castled by Tanvir. Gambhir on the other hand played some beautiful strokes as he always does. He was joined by Rohit Sharma. Both played well and didn't let the asking rate to out of their reach. Sharma, Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan all got starts but none converted it to a bigger, meaningful and match-winning knock.
Yuvraj, as usual, played some delightful strokes hitting 2 fours in one over and trying his best to keep pace with the required run rate. But Afridi got the better of him and that probably was the turning point of the match. Because it was left only upto Dhoni to play a captain's knock. He did it to the best of his ability, scoring at more than a run a ball. But it was Afridi again who removed Dhoni. And eventually 290 all out is only what India could muster, giving Pakistan a 25 run victory.
This was the 10th final between India and Pakistan. And Pakistan's victory percentage is 70 while India have managed to win just 3 finals out of the 10 played.