ICC Champions Trophy 2009 India vs Pakistan Highlights

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Watch highlights – India vs Pakistan – from the 2009 Champions Trophy played on September 26, 2009.

Scoreline: Pakistan 302/9 – Shoaib Malik 128 (126), Mohammad Yousuf 87 (88) – Ashish Nehra 4 wickets
India lose (248 all out) Gautam Gambhir 57 (46), Raina 46 (41), Dravid 76 (103) – Aamer, Ajmal, Rana, Afridi 2 wickets each

I’ve never liked Shoaib Malik. Have always looked at him as the guy who displaced Saqlain from the Pakistan team. But even his biggest haters today would have had to concede a super knock in the company of Yousuf, who was deft as he often is. What made this Malik knock a great knock was that after the breathtaking Nazir show, for a long period, the Indian bowlers appeared to be in control. While the bowlers barring Nehra had poor outings, such was the intelligence of the knock that it was only after the 30th over that the real damage of the partnership began to slowly rear itself in a scratching-the-head sort of what-has-been-silently-going-on-here way.

One thing though about the Indian players today while all this was happening – having grown up (at least physically) from the 80s onwards watching countless India-Pak matches, the mood in the field was different today and the players were relatively chilled out especially during the typical Pakistani openers-assault.

Gambhir and Raina were stand-out for India. Though Gambhir was totally revved up and looking to attack, India depended quite a bit on the free-hits early on to ease the pressure. The Dravid knock was better than 76-off-103-in-a-chase-over-300, in the sense that, had Raina come off for a longer period, it would have been a lauded effort.

All in all, a good win for Pakistan who played the better cricket overall. Also, it turns out Pre-Match Younis is as cool as Post-Match Younis.

Preplay: Too bad Yuvraj is missing this tournament since he’s one of those players who transcends national leanings through his sheer presence on a cricket field. Hope the game doesn’t disappoint.