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India’s domination was complete. Their mammoth total was made possible not by one but three batsmen: Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir made the most of some sloppy catching, getting within four runs of India’s highest opening stand against Pakistan, before Yuvraj Singh raised visions of a 375-plus total. They settled for 330 but it didn’t matter in the final analysis. Once Pakistan crumbled to 26 for 3, it was only a case of picking up the pieces.

Akmal and Misbah ensured Praveen didn’t have a perfect day - taking 17 off his fifth over, including four cracking fours - but Akmal was livid after falling to a full toss, lobbing a leading edge to mid-on. Misbah too couldn’t carry on, falling to an injudicious waft, and it was left to Shoaib Malik to pick up the pieces. He soldiered on to a fifty but his meaty blows were largely inconsequential in the face of a steep mountain. Chawla finished with four wickets, tormenting the tail and rounding off a near-perfect day.

Pakistan drubbed minnows Bangladesh by 70 runs here yesterday and its coach Geoff Lawson believes his team is capable of forcing India to surrender and that too by a bigger margin.However, Lawson’s Indian counterpart Gary Kirsten says his team is confident and its good run will continue the way it has in the recent past.

Pakistan team, which is on a roll after winning 12 successive matches has its tails up. Its winning spree which started against India was followed by 11 wins but all of them came against minnows Bangladesh (6) and Zimbabwe (5).Dhoni’s boys would be eager to settle scores but a long 44-day Twenty20 tournament in IPL did not give them any breathing space before the triangular series here.

Lawson believes his side will look to play their natural game and will not allow pressure to affect his players’ performance.”We do not want to treat the match as a must win one and put ourselves under pressure. We want to play our own game,” Lawson said about the match, a win in which would assure Pakistan a place in the finals.

However, he did not reveal his team’s strategy which would obviously change drastically against India in comparison to Bangladesh.”I would prefer to discuss strategies against India with my players rather than telling the media. I would like to score a 150-run win over India tomorrow,” he said.

While Pakistani players were a sure shot flop in the recently concluded IPL, Sohail Tanvir stood out with his exceptional bowling efforts in the tournament and emerged the highest wicket-taker. His team would look up to him to provide some early wickets.

In his side’s victory against Bangladesh, Lawson was particularly pleased with an out-of-form Shahid Afridi’s all-round effort. Afridi scored 20 runs off 17 balls and was spinning the bowl a great deal as he picked up three wickets in his eight overs conceding a mere 19 runs.

”He is obviously an experienced player. Every team has its own targets and they do have their strategies against rival teams,” he said.Meanwhile, India have already played some long and tough cricket in the year so far but with Kirsten as coach and Dhoni as captain would not be complacent against Pakistan who have played some good amount of cricket but with some lowely ranked teams.

Kirsten said shifting from the Twenty20 mode to One-day cricket would not be a difficult task for his boys and added that their strategies are ready for tomorrow’s encounter.

Teams India (from) Mahendra Singh Dhoni (cap, wk), Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Gautam Gambhir.

Pakistan (from) Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik (capt), Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul.

Pakistani all-rounder Sohail Tanvir hit the winning run off the final ball of the game.

Rajasthan’s Yusuf Pathan earned the man of the match award for his hard-hitting 56 that laid the foundation for the Royals to overtake the Chennai Super Kings total of 163.

Watson plundered 52 from just 29 deliveries before wreaking havoc with the ball, taking a parsimonious 3 for 10 to thrash Glenn McGrath’s Delhi Daredevils by 105 runs in Mumbai.The Shane Warne-skippered Royals were sent in to bat after losing the toss, and raced a to monstrous 9 for 192 from their allotted 20 overs.

South African captain Graeme Smith (25) and Swapnil Asnodkar (39) laid the platform atop the Royals’ order, before Watson and Yusuf Pathan (45 from 21) took to the Daredevils with reckless abandon.McGrath was expensive, going for 38 runs without return from his four-over spell.

Delhi offered little in response in a one-sided semi-final, skittled for just 87 runs with 3.5 overs to spare.Watson starred with the ball alongside Warne (2 for 21) and Munaf Patel (3 for 17), with Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 33 from 22 posting the Daredevils’ highest individual score.

The selectors meet here on Friday to pick the team for the tri-series and the Asia Cup. “Tendulkar has opted out of the two series,” said Niranjan Shah, Secretary, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The physio of the Mumbai Indians team, Nitin Patel, in his report had advised the BCCI to rest Tendulkar because of a chronic groin ailment. John Gloster, the Indian team’s physio in Australia had cautioned the champion batsman against allowing the troubling groin to reach a chronic state.

Captain of the Mumbai Indians team in the DLF-IPL, Tendulkar was forced to sit out the first seven matches and made 188 runs in the last seven matches.Patel, who was the physio of the Indian Team on the last tour of England, has said in his report that Tendulkar has “75-80 per cent recovered from osteitis pubis (groin problem) that was present since February 2008 during the tour of Australia.”

“He is currently undergoing a rehabilitation programme that includes strengthening of his core and specific functional strengthening of the groin. It is advisable to consider getting him to rest the groin from strenuous activities at present. “I have asked the physios of all the IPL teams to submit a fitness report of all the Indian players. The reports will be shown to the selection committee on Friday. A 15-member team will be selected for the tri-series in Bangladesh as well as the Asia Cup,” Mr. Shah said.

Harbhajan Singh has been banned for five ODIs and the committee may pick Baroda’s Yusuf Pathan. Mr. Shah said the committee might also pick the India Emerging Players for the four nation one-day tournament in Australia from July 14-26. The other three teams are Australian Institute of Sports, South Africa Emerging Players and New Zealand Emerging Players. Until last year, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) played in the tournament.

At the behest of Cricket South Africa Chief Executive Gerald Majola, BCCI representatives Mr. Shah and Prof. Ratnakar Shetty, Chief Administrative Officer, BCCI, have persuaded Cricket Australia to invite the Indian Emerging Players for the four-nation tournament.An India ‘A’ team is scheduled to play three one-day matches in Israel soon. “We have to schedule it at an appropriate time,” said Prof. Shetty.

When asked about the status of the bowling coach, Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach, Robin Singh, Mr. Shah said: “We will have a meeting with Gary Kirsten and Mahendra Singh Dhoni after the selection of the team and decide on the support staff. The BCCI is not looking for an overseas bowling and fielding coach.” The news on the grapevine though is that Kirsten is keen to bring former South African seamer, Fanie de Villers on board.

Sachin Tendulkar’s side exacted revenge for the loss his team suffered when Mumbai had hosted the Royal Challengers, but the win was inconsequential as they had no chance of advancing to the semi-finals.Sanath Jayasuriya and Tendulkar put on 96 runs for the opening stand as the Mumbai Indians made light of a target of 123.

Jayasuriya clobbered four sixes and four fours in a typically belligerent batting display as Rahul Dravid’s decision to again open the bowling with Anil Kumble backfired. Kumble conceded nine runs in his first over and was quickly removed from the attack.

Kumble was at the receiving end as Jayasuriya completed his half century when he swung the leg-spinner for six over deep midwicket. Jayasuriya finally fell for 54 when he miscued a short-arm jab off Dale Steyn to B Akhil at cover.Tendulkar kept the other end secure with a display of controlled aggression. He struck four fours and a six in an unfinished knock of 40, ensuring victory when he swept Kumble for a couple of boundaries.

Bangalore Royal Challengers had earlier failed to make good on a modest start. Dilhara Fernando had wrecked the Royal Challengers’ top order with a three-wicket haul in his first two overs.The Sri Lankan paceman vindicated skipper Tendulkar’s decision to field first in a game reduced to 18 overs due to rain, removing openers Mark Boucher (18) and S Goswami (20) in quick time.

He then had the dangerous Misbah-ul-Haq dismissed for nought before returning in the final overs to claim the wicket of Vinay Kumar and finish with figures of four for 18 from four overs.Dwayne Smith ensured wickets fell at regular intervals as the Royal Challengers stuttered and stumbled under the pressure of losing early wickets. Smith finished with three for 26 from four overs.