Skipper Rahul Dravid led from the front with a responsible 92 as India defeated Pakistan by 51 runs in the second and final one-day international of DLF Cup here on Wednesday to level the series 1-1.
He put on 138 for the opening wicket with Virender Sehwag (73) to help India post a challenging 269-5 before his bowlers restricted Pakistan to 218 despite a fighting 79 from captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.
Left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan and off-spinner Ramesh Powar each grabbed three wickets.
Inzamam posed the main threat to India's total with a 91-ball knock but his run out in the 43rd over, brought off by Dravid, dashed his team's hopes.
Pathan jolted Pakistan with two wickets in successive overs, trapping Imran Farhat leg-before for his 100th victim in one-dayers and then uprooting the middle-stump of Shahid Afridi.
Pakistan were reduced to 45-3 when seamer Ajit Agarkar removed Younis Khan, who was caught behind for five. They were under pressure after losing three wickets in opening 12 overs.
Opener Shoaib Malik (45) and Inzamam steadied the innings before India struck back with a hat-trick of superb catches.
Yuvraj Singh dived to his right at square-leg to hold the ball inches off the ground to account for Malik and Suresh Raina timed his jump to perfection to take an overhead catch at short mid-wicket to dismiss Mohammad Yousuf.
Venugopal Rao then broke a dangerous 50-run stand for the eighth wicket with a well-judged catch at long-on boundary to remove Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who smashed a 17-ball 27.
The Dravid-led side on Tuesday lost the first of two day-night games held here to raise funds for victims of last year's Kashmir earthquake, but gave a better batting performance when it mattered most.
Proceeds from Tuesday's match were donated to the survivors of the massive earthquake that hit Kashmir last October killing more than 73,000 people in Pakistan and 1,300 in India.
Revenues from the second game on Wednesday will be shared by the Indian and Pakistan cricket boards after a million dollars is given to the hosts.
SCOREBOARD
INDIA:
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V. Sehwag b Afridi 73
R. Dravid b Asif 92
M. Dhoni b Rana 59
Y. Singh c Asif b Rana 24
S. Raina run out 6
I. Pathan not out 7
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EXTRAS: (LB-7 W-1) 8
TOTAL: (FOR 5 WICKETS, 50 OVERS) 269
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Fall of wickets: 1-138 2-228 3-234 4-255 5-269
Did not bat: V. Rao, R. Powar, S. Sreesanth, A. Agarkar, H. Singh
Bowling: M. Asif 10-2-57-1, Naved-ul-Hasan 10-2-45-2 (w-1), I. Anjum 10-1-51-0, A. Razzaq 5-0-39-0, S. Afridi 10-0-39-1, S. Malik 5-0-31-0
PAKISTAN:
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S. Malik c Y. Singh b Powar 45
I. Farhatlbw b Pathan 8
S. Afridi b Pathan 0
Y. Khan c Dhoni b Agarkar 5
Inzamam-ul-Haq run out 79
M. Yousuf c Raina b Powar 5
K. Akmal c Dravid b H. Singh 18
A. Razzaq c sub b Powar 1
Rana Naved c Rao b Pathan 27
I. Anjum b Sreesanth 11
M. Asif not out 1
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EXTRAS: (B-4 LB-1 NB-2 W-11) 18
TOTAL: (ALL OUT, 45.2 OVERS) 218
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Fall of wickets: 1-22 2-23 3-45 4-91 5-108 6-147 7-148 8-198 9-209 10-218
Bowling: I. Pathan 10-0-35-3, S. Sreesanth 7.2-0-30-1 (nb-2), A. Agarkar 8-1-30-1 (w-2), H. Singh 10-0-57-1 (w-1), R. Powar 10-0-61-3 (w-4)
Result: India won by 51 runs
TOSS: India
UMPIRES: Rudi Koertzen (RSA) and Brian Jerling (RSA)
TV UMPIRE: Tyron Wijewardena (SL)
MATCH REFEREE: Roshan Mahanama (SL).
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