Guwahati, India: India beat Pakistan
by five wickets in the first one-day international on Monday in this north-eastern city.
Top and middle -order batmen scored the runs for India, although Sachin Tendulkar fell cheaply for 2 - lbw to his old tormentor Shoaib Akhtar.
A solid partnership of 82 runs between opener Saurav Ganguly (39) and Gautam Ghambir (44) then laid the foundation of the innings until Ganguly was run out.
Skipper Dhoni struck 63 and his deputy Yuvraj made 58 as they delivered a crucial 105-run fourth wicket partnership to help the team reach 242 for five wickets in 47 overs.
Earlier, Pakistan had made 239 for seven wickets after openers Salman Butt (50) and Kamran Akmal (12) put on a 44-run partnership.
But the innings seemed to then lose momentum until Mohammad Yousuf fought back with 83 not out off 88 balls.
All-rounder Misbah-ul-Haq pitched in with a valuable 27 towards the end of the innings.
For India the most successful bowler was Sachin Tendulkar, whose medium-paced bowling picked up the crucial wickets of Shahid Afridi for 31 and captain Shoaib Malik for 2.
Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh finished with a wicket apiece.
The next match in the five-game series will be played in Mohali on Thursday.
India
scoreboard:
S. Ganguly run out -- 39
S. Tendulkar lbw b Akhtar -- 4
G. Gambhir b Afridi -- 44
M. S. Dhoni c Akmal b Akhtar -- 63
Yuvraj Singh c Afridi b Rehman -- 58
Robin Uthappa not out -- 11
Irfan Pathan not out -- 5
Extras: 18
Total: (five wickets, 47 overs) 242
Pakistan scoreboard:
S.Butt run out -- 50
K.Akmal lbw b Pathan -- 12
Y.Khan c Pathan b Harbhajan -- 25
M.Yousuf not out -- 83
S.Afridi st Dhoni b Tendulkar -- 31
S.Malik c Gambhir b Tendulkar -- 2
M.Haq c Harbhajan b Khan -- 27
A.Rehman run out -- 0
Extras: 9
Total: (seven wickets, 50 overs) 239
