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A superbly paced century from Younis Khan (117 from 110 with 9 fours and 2 sixes), his first one against India led Pakistan to an emphatic victory in the second ODI despite chasing a huge target. India's bowling was a big let down with too many half volleys, full tosses when the opposition was already facing a stiff task of getting many runs in fewer balls. Shahid Afridi played an important role of being the finisher which just saw Pakistan win this Mohali game with a ball to spare.

In this day nighter at the PCA Stadium, the Indian top order gave a brilliant start giving way to a score of 350 plus on the board. But Pakistan made a dramatic comeback with the ball to take key wickets at key stages to pull down the total to 321 for 9. Sachin Tendulkar came good with a special knock with the only blemish in that coming when he was on 99, a figure that he continues to haunt him. Today, he scratched around on 99 looking very anxiously for that one run but fate saw him poke at a delivery around the offstump to the keeper! It was on the cards that Tendulkar would get out into the nineties as cricket all of a sudden becomes a complicated game for the master of it when he's approaching a ton! But otherwise Tendulkar played an entertaining knock with his runs coming in 91 balls with 14 fours and a six. He was well supported by no.3 batsman - Gautam Gambhir, who made 57 from 68 with 7 fours with the partnership between both these taking India to a strong 179 for 2 in the 26th over itself.

Umar Gul was the bowler giving Pak the vital blows of Sachin and Gambhir which came in the space of 11 deliveries. Making his comeback in the team, Virender Sehwag like usual spoilt his start into a meaningful score, he contributed a 31-ball 25 which didn't really impress the critics. India thereafter kept on losing important wickets and by the 43rd over, Pakistan had seen the backs of Yuvraj (34 from 44 with 3 fours), Uthappa (0) and MS Dhoni (4)! What could have easily been a 350+ score now looked out of reach and for that matter even 300 was difficult to come by. Luckily enough for the hosts, Harbhajan Singh executed his big hitting perfectly well to take India to a very good looking 321. Harbhajan made an unbeaten 38 in 20 with a couple of fours and sixes each. For Pakistan, Shoaib Akhtar made a remarkable comeback, he struggled with his rhythm all through the day, got smacked around but then returned back with a shorter run-up and reduced pace to finish with figures of 10-1-42-3!

Chasing a huge target under lights is no easy but Pakistan got themselves to decent starts which were pegged back by some tight bowling from the Indians. Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik got together at 105 for 3 in the 23rd over to take the fight forward. They did so at a steady rate that never was scary enough to snatch the game away from India. When Shoaib Malik was removed by Harbhajan in the 33rd over, Pakistan got to 174 for 4.

Younis Khan was always cool and collective in his innings, he never panicked although the required run rate was on the higher side. He found an able partner in Misbah-ul-Haq to give Pakistan the chance to do the near impossible. Younis Khan in the process got to his hundred, his first in this format against the arch rivals. India fought their way back finally removing the two dangerous batsmen - Younis Khan (bowled round is legs trying to paddle Zaheer) and Misbah-ul-Haq (49 from 44 with 3 fours) which had the score at 283 for 6 after 46.4 overs.

For once, Shahid Afridi did justice to his batting abilities after quite sometime to fire Pak to victory in the final over. He set up the win by smashing Zaheer Khan for three consecutive boundaries in the 48th over. Pakistan towards had a very easy task of getting six from the final over that was bowled by Irfan Pathan. Shahid Afridi remained right till the end with a 14-ball 29 which also had a six along with three fours off Zaheer. His job was easier thanks to Sohail Tanvir, who got an unbeaten 10-ball 14 with 2 fours.

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