An inspired India decimated Pakistan with an emphatic five-wicket victory to clinch the one-day series by taking an invincible 3-1 lead. After bundling out the hosts for a paltry 161 in 41.5 overs, the Indians romped home with 17.3 overs to spare to record their second consecutive one-day series triumph on Pakistani soil since the 2004 tour.
It was an awesome all-round display by the visitors who relied on newcomer Rudra Pratap Singh (4-40) and Irfan Pathan (3-26) before captain Rahul Dravid (59) and the in-form Yuvraj Singh (37) made useful contributions to steer the team to a facile victory, leaving a capacity crowd at the Multan Cricket Stadium shell-shocked.
Young guns Suresh Raina (35 not out) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2 not out) provided the finishing touches to a remarkable triumph built around exemplary team work.
The Indian dressing room erupted in joy as Raina pulled part-timer Imran Farhat to the boundary to fetch India the winning runs in what turned out to be a lop-sided contest.
The visitors could not have chosen a better venue to deliver the knockout punch, coming as it did in the hometown of captain Inzamam-ul Haq, who top scored for the hosts with a defiant 49.
Dravid elected to field after winning the toss and his bowlers responded brilliantly to reduce the formidable Pakistan batting line-up to 29 for four by the 13th over. The home team never really recovered from the early jolts.
Barring Inzamam, none of the Pakistani batsman could hang around for long as the Indian pacers managed to obtain some assistance from the track in the early stages of the contest.
It was a pathetic display by the Pakistan batsmen who had no answers to the energetic Uttar Pradesh paceman R.P. Singh and Pathan, who wrecked the hosts with fiery spells.
However, a good start also eluded the Indians with openers Sachin Tendulkar (0) and Gautam Gambhir (21) perishing early with only 29 runs on the board, comeback man Mohammad Sami (3-42) doing the damage.
Dravid then guided the tourists with a fine innings of 59 containing nine fours before falling leg before to a swinging full toss from Sami.
Yuvraj (37 in 57 balls) paved the way for the victory with a third-wicket partnership of 85 in 106 balls.
The Punjab batsman struck six fours but his dismissal as well as that of Mohammad Kaif (0) in a span of eight balls provided Pakistan renewed hopes of a dramatic turnaround.
Dravid also fell after facing 72 balls when India needed 29 more runs to win.
Raina, getting his first chance to bat in the series, played in an impressive fashion and hit six fours in his 34-ball knock to guide the team to victory.
In the morning, another UP youngster — R.P. Singh — took 4 for 40 after coming first-change, including two wickets off successive balls, to steal the show.
The 20-year-old paceman was even on a hat-trick in his first six-over spell after sending back in-form batsman Shoaib Malik and vice-captain Younis Khan off successive balls in his very first over.
The Rae Bareilly youngster failed to complete the feat but came back in the second spell to take two more wickets while Pathan also bowled with a lot of verve.
Pakistan had little to show for in their do-or-die encounter, barring Inzamam’s determined knock of 49 in 62 balls with seven fours, as the batsmen failed to handle the pressure of a huge home crowd.
