CHENNAI — Nasir Jamshed hit an unbeaten 101 as Pakistan beat India by six wickets here Sunday in the first game of a three-match One-Day International series. India, put in to bat in trying conditions, managed 227 for six, largely thanks to an unbeaten century from captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (113 not out). Nasir Jamshed and Younis Khan (58) made light work of the chase as Pakistan scored 228 for four with 11 balls to spare. Pakistan's chase got off to a bad start as it lost Mohammad Hafeez on the very first ball of its innings. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, who impressed in the two-match Twenty20 series, again gave India the breakthrough with an in-swinging delivery. With the new ball jagging around, Pakistan batsmen were put under tremendous pressure. Azhar Ali, playing his 12th ODI, failed to handle the pressure and lobbed an easy catch to Rohit Sharma off the bowling of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. With Pakistan reeling at 21 for two, Younis Khan showed his experience stringing a match-winning 112-run partnership with Jamshed. India removed Younis and skipper Misbahul Haq (16) to put pressure on the visitors. Jamshed too could have been dismissed, but for a rare dropped chance from Yuvraj Singh. Lady luck was with the visitors again when Shoaib Malik (34 not out) was caught behind on a no-ball. After that the Pakistani batsmen didn't leave anything to chance and slowly but surely reached the target without any more hiccups. Earlier, India made a disastrous start to its innings but was rescued by a captain's innings from Dhoni. India crumbled to 29 for five by the 10th over, with four batsmen being bowled by pacer Junaid Khan. Mohammed Irfan (1-58) and Junaid Khan (4-43) took advantage of a fairly green wicket and damp and moist conditions in the morning to rattle the Indian top-order. Their excellent opening spells saw India's five top-order batsmen — Gautam Gambhir (8), Virender Sehwag (4), Virat Kohli (0), Yuvraj Singh (2) and Rohit Sharma (4) — fail to get into double figures. However, from thereon, Suresh Raina (43) and Dhoni tried to stabilize the innings and struck a slow but steady 73-run partnership to get the host out of trouble. After steadying the ship, Raina also departed when he was bowled by spinner Mohammed Hafeez with the scoreboard reading 102-6 in the 34th over. Local boy Ravichandran Ashwin (31 not out) then struck a record unbeaten seventh wicket partnership of 125 runs off 100 balls with his skipper to see India past the 200-mark. Dhoni displayed his big-hitting prowess in the death overs hitting Irfan and Junaid all over the ground. He hit seven boundaries and three sixes, including one to reach his eighth ODI ton. Despite tiring out, he stuck there eventually taking his team to a fighting total.
