TNI Bureau: A record-breaking 125-run seventh wicket partnership between Ms Dhoni and R Ashwin helped India post 227/6 in 50 overs in the first ODI against Pakistan in Chennai. India recovered from 29/5 to reach this respectable total and pose a big challenge to Pakistan.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to field first. Junaid Khan wrecked havoc by removing four top order batsmen, while debutant Mohammad Irfan took one. Four of the five top order Indian batsmen were clean bowled. Gambhir, Sehwag, Kohli, Yuvraj and Rohit failed to reach the double digit.
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Dhoni and Raina batted sensibly to add 73 runs for the sixth wicket. Raina was out for 43. Ashwin gave tremendous support to Dhoni in his bid to revive India’s fortunes. Dhoni scored his 8th ODI hundred and remained unbeaten on 113 off 125 balls with 7 boundaries and 3 sixes. He also completed 7,000 runs in ODI cricket. Ashwin remained not out on 31.
For Pakitan, Junaid took four wickets. In the last five matches in Chennai, the team batting first had won four times. That gives Team India a lots of hope, as they have a good score to defend now.