India crashed to an embarrassing six-wicket defeat at the start of the Pakistan tour after their bowlers were pounded in spectacular fashion here on Thursday.
Having posted 335-6 from 50 overs, the tourists were jolted when Pakistan A overtook the imposing total with 24 deliveries to spare in a limited-overs practice match at the Gaddafi stadium.
The home team's captain, Taufiq Umer, hit 104 and Imran Nazir contributed a fiery 65 off 32 balls to dent India's confidence ahead of Saturday's first one-day international in the southern port city of Karachi.
The result never looked in doubt once Pakistan A had cruised to 183-1 by the 15th over.
The Indian bowlers were guilty of conceding 42 extras, including 17 no-balls and 12 wides.
Zaheer Khan, who went for 78 runs in nine overs, was the worst culprit with 12 no-balls and 10 wides. Laxmipathy Balaji was thrashed for 60 runs in six overs and young seamer Irfan Pathan gave away 49 in five.
Dejected Indian coach John Wright laid the blame squarely on his bowlers' shoulders.
"I think its a jolt from the point of view of how tough this tour is going to be," he said.
"We bowled badly and have a job in hand to sort this out quickly.
"We would not want to repeat this performance. One must have a plan B when your opponent attacks. Our bowlers bowled all over the place and will have to learn quickly.
"(A bowler) Going for 60 and 70 is an area of concern which we must address and the only way is to work hard in the nets.
"The Pakistan team must have watched this performance with interest. Worry is not the right adjective, but we must have better all-round performance in the one-dayers," Wright said.
India will play five one-dayers and three Tests against Pakistan on their first full tour of the country since 1989.
For the tourists, Rahul Dravid stroked an unbeaten 92 to build on Sachin Tendulkar's 76 and a typically aggressive 75 off 68 balls by Virender Sehwag.
Captain Sourav Ganguly managed only five before fending a rising ball from Umer Gul back to the bowler - a dismissal sure to please Pakistan's speed king Shoaib Akhtar.
The Indian captain's woes continued as openers Nazir and Taufiq launched a spectacular assault on his bowlers.
The pair smashed the new ball duo of Khan and Balaji for 50 by the fifth over and brought up the century stand off the first delivery of the eighth over.
When Pathan replaced Zaheer, he was hit for 24 runs in his first over. Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik was welcomed into the attack by being swatted for 23 runs in an over.
Nazir, dropped from Pakistan's one-day squad last year, hit nine boundaries and a six before he was bowled by Zaheer.
Umer, a regular Test batsman but not considered good enough for the one-dayers, had 13 fours and two sixes in his 89-ball knock.
India clearly looked incapable of containing the batsmen in the absence of three strike bowlers, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar and Harbhajan Singh.
Leg-spinner Kumble and seamer Agarkar, who were forced to miss the first part of the tour due to injuries, are expected to be available for the Test series starting on March 28.
Off-spinner Harbhajan is out of the entire tour following surgery on his bowling hand during the recent tour of Australia.
Scoreboard
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INDIA
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V. Sehwag c Bazid b Qaiser Abbas 75
S. Tendulkar b Qaiser Abbas 76
S. Ganguly c and b Umer Gul 5
V. Laxman b Junaid Zia 28
R. Dravid not out 92
Y. Singh c Iqbal b Yasir Arafat 10
Mohammad Kaif run out 20
Irfan Pathan not out 0
Extras: (lb4, nb12, w13) 29
Total: (for six wkts) 335
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Did not bat: M. Kartik, L. Balaji
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Fall of wickets: 1-149, 2-172, 3-182, 4-239, 5-250, 6-329
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BOWLING: Umer Gul: 10-0-74-1, Mohammad Khalil: 10-0-70-0,
Yasir Arafat: 10-0-77-1, Junaid Zia: 10-0-54-1,
Qaiser Abbas: 10-0-56-2
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PAKISTAN A
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Imran Nazir b Zaheer 65
Taufiq Umer c sub (Patil) b Tendulkar 104
Naumanullah Khan c Kartik b Sehwag 35
Faisal Iqbal not out 50
Bazid Khan c sub (Patil) b Kartik 2
Qaiser Abbas not out 38
Extras: (b4, lb9, nb17, w12) 42
Total: (for four wkts) 336
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Did not bat: Yasir Arafat, Kamran Akmal, Junaid Zia,
Umer Gul, Mohammad Khalid
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Fall of wickets: 1-127, 2-220, 3-252, 4-258
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BOWLING: Zaheer: 9-0-78-1, Balaji: 6-0-60-0,
Pathan: 5-0-49-0, Kartik: 10-1-63-1, Ganguly: 4-0-19-0,
Sehwag: 5-0-22-1, Tendulkar: 6-0-31-1, Yuvraj: 1-0-1-0
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Pakistan A won by six wickets four overs to spare.
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