Pakistan spinners Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik took seven wickets between them to bowl their side to a 66-run win over arch-rivals India in the opening match of the triangular event here Saturday.
Afridi took four for 20 and "Man-of-the Match" Malik, who earlier made 68, three for 18 as India, chasing a target of 194 to win, were bowled out for 127 with six overs to spare.
But India were without Sachin Tendulkar after the star batsman was ruled out of the whole tournament, also featuring world champions Australia, earlier Saturday because of an elbow injury.
Pakistan, after losing the toss, made 192 for six. That left India a revised target of 194 to win in their 33 overs after the innings had twice been reduced in length by rain.
An unbroken stand of 56 between Abdul Razzaq and Moin Khan took Pakistan to their final total.
Razzaq (35 not out) and Moin (27 not out) took 42 runs off the last three overs.
Lakshmipathy Balaji kept things tight with three for 27 from seven overs but could do nothing about the late onslaught.
Earlier, Malik weighed in with 68 off 67 balls after India captain Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to field.
Venkatsai Laxman took the fight to Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar. He on-drove him for an elegant four and next ball saw his top edged-hook off the Rawalpindi Express fly over the keeper and slips for six.
Left-hander Ganguly, opening in place of Tendulkar, fell for 25 when his Pull-off Razzaq was caught by Yousuf Youhana running round at mid-wicket.
And 69 for two became 70 for three thanks to an even more spectacular piece of fielding which saw star batsman Rahul Dravid out for nought.
Laxman pushed Mohammad Sami for a single and set off. But Dravid, casually ambling in, was beaten by Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq's left-handed direct hit from mid-on.
Inzamam, famed throughout his career for being involved in run-outs rather than inflicting them on his opponents, saw his moment of magic lead to a Pakistan stranglehold on the match.
Batsmen were finding it hard to time the ball and as the boundaries dried up so did the noise from the hordes of India fans in the 10,000 capacity crowd.
The temporary stands went even quieter when Laxman's patient 51-ball 37 ended when he played on to off-spinner Malik.
At 96 for four the game, now being played in bright sunshine, was almost out of India's reach with Malik adding a couple of wickets to his haul.
After a four hour delay, Afridi lofted the fifth ball of the match, from Irfan Pathan, high over long-on for six, before falling for 19. Inzamam managed just one, caught behind off seamer Balaji and at 58 for three in the 15th over Pakistan were in trouble.
Malik, on 29, had a narrow escape when Kaif, fielding close in at short mid-off, just failed to hold a one-handed diving chance off Ganguly. But he eventually fell when Kaif got under a skyer off Kumble.
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Pakistan innings
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Yasir Hameed c Dravid b Balaji 9
Shahid Afridi c Kaif b Agarkar 19
Shoaib Malik c Kaif b Kumble 66
Inzamam-ul-Haq c Dravid b Balaji 1
Yousuf Youhana run out (Sehwag) 30
Abdul Razzaq not out 35
Younis Khan c Dravid b Balaji 0
Moin Khan not out 27
Extras (lb-2 w-1 nb-2) 5
Total (for six wickets in 33 overs) 192
=========================================================Did not bat: Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed.
Fall of wickets: 1-22 2-52 3-58 4-122 5-136 6-136
Bowling: Pathan 7-0-58-0, Agarkar 7-0-40-1 (1-nb),
Balaji 7-1-27-3 (w-1), Ganguly 6-0-33-0,
Kumble 6-0-32-1 (1-nb)=========================================================
India innings
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V.Sehwag c Shoaib Malik b Shabbir Ahmed 17
S.Ganguly c Yousuf Youhana b Abdul Razzaq 25
V.Laxman b Shoaib Malik 37
R.Dravid run out (Inzamamul Haq) 0
Yuvraj Singh lbw b Shahid Afridi 13
M.Kaif b Shahid Afridi 10
R.Gavaskar c Abdul Razzaq b Shoaib Malik 15
A.Agarkar c Yasir Hameed b Shoaib Malik 1
I.Pathan lbw b Shahid Afridi 1
L.Balaji c Mohammad Sami b Shahid Afridi 2
A.Kumble not out 1
Extras (lb-1 w-3 nb-1) 5
Total (all out in 27 overs) 127
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Fall of wickets: 1-30 2-69 3-70 4-96 5-98 6-116 7-123 8-123 9-124
Bowling: Mohammad Sami 5-0-29-0, Shabbir Ahmed 5-0-22-1 (w-1), Shoaib Akhtar 3-0-23-0 (nb-1 w-1), Abdul Razzaq 4-1-14-1, Shahid Afridi 6-0-20-4 (w-1), Shoaib Malik 4-0-18-3
Result: Pakistan won by 66 runs (Duckworth-Lewis method)
Next match: August 23 - Australia v India.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2004
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