India level series

Yuvraj Singh has hit a sublime unbeaten 82 to guide India to a seven-wicket victory over Pakistan in the second one-day international in Rawalpindi.

Shoaib Malik (95) and Younis Khan (81 not out) were the key batsmen for the hosts as they made 265 all out off 49.2 overs.

However, Virender Sehwag, with an ominous 67, and Sachin Tendulkar (42) put on 105 to give India a strong start.

Rahul Dravid (56) and Yuvraj then added 118 as the tourists levelled the series with plenty of overs to spare.

It was India's first victory on the tour, after losing the Test series 1-0, and it did some repair work to a poor record of 11 defeats in 16 one-dayers to their neighbours.

The visitors began well when Man of the Match Irfan Pathan (3-43) had Salman Butt caught behind off the second ball of the match and Kamran Akmal (14) dragged one back onto his stumps.

Then when Mohammad Yousuf was needlessly run out off Tendulkar's mis-field and Zaheer Khan induced a leading edge from captain Inzamam-ul-Haq (8) with his second delivery the hosts were stunned at 68-4.

However, Malik, who made 90 in the first game, smashed 13 fours in his 110-ball knock, while Younis found the boundary nine times to revive them.

After Malik failed to beat the strong throw of Shanathakumaran Sreesanth from the deep in the 34th over, the rest of the batting order then struggled, although Umar Gul made a rapid 17 late on.

Sehwag was in deadly form and went after Rana Naved-ul-Hasan straight away, cutting him for six, punching him down the ground, flicking a fullish one through mid-wicket and hammering a wide delivery through cover off successive balls in his third over.

Tendulkar was also quick to punish anything overpitched or wide but was caught behind after trying to guide Abdul Razzaq to third man.

Sehwag continued to blast away after reaching his 20th one-day fifty and looked set for a big score when a direct hit from Gul at fine-leg ran him out to ease matters for the hosts.

The pace inevitably slackened when Dravid and Yuvraj first came to the crease, and the latter had an escape on seven when he miscued a pull off Razzaq, which the bowler just failed to get across to at mid-wicket.

He quickly recovered to hammer the all-rounder for three boundaries in four balls.
Yuvraj brought up his fifty with a text-book pull-shot off the hapless Naved, who conceded 60 off seven overs, and registered a massive six off Malik over long-on before seeing the tourists home.

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