Opener Gautam Gambhir and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni weaved a match winning partnership as India 'A' coasted to an eight-wicket win over Pakistan 'A' in the triangular series league encounter in Nairobi on Thursday.
Dhoni (119 not out) and Gambhir (79), who had scored big hundreds during the 121-run victory over the archrivals in the previous clash, put together 169 runs for the second wicket as Indians overhauled the Pakistani target of 235 runs with five overs to spare.
India 'A' had already been ensured a berth in the final after winning all the league matches after the surprise loss to Kenya in the opening tie.
On the other hand, Pakistan 'A' have just one win under their belt from five outings and face a do-or-die match against hosts Kenya who have two wins from as many matches.
Dhoni, who has been knocking on the doors of the national side with his consistent batting, hit nine fours and five sixes in his 134-ball knock.
The Indians did not have a great start as they lost opener Dhiraj Jadhav with just eight runs on the board. Dhoni and Gambhir then played cautiously and ensured that there were no more hiccups before opening out in the later part of the innings.
Both batsmen were lucky as they were given a 'life' each by Pakistan 'A' skipper Misabah-ul-Haq and Naveed Qureshi respectively and they made sure that the arch-rivals paid dearly for the slip up.
Earlier, Pakistan 'A' were bowled out for 234 runs in 46.2 overs as the Indian bowlers scalped the last seven wickets for just 37 runs.
Medium pacer Shib Shankar Paul and skipper Sairaj Bahutule took seven wickets between them to peg back the Pakistani innings which was cruising along at 197 for 2 after the 39th over. Bahutule finished with 4 for 38 while Paul claimed 3 for 44.
Electing to bat, Pakistan made a disastrous start losing two wickets for just eight runs, but a brilliant 189-run stand between skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (106) and Bazid Khan (87) not only restructured the innings but laid the foundation for a big score.
But with Bazid getting run out in the 40th over and Misbah-ul-Haq bowled by Bahutule soon after the Pakistan 'A' batting collapsed like a pack of cards.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 'A' 234 all out in 46.2 overs (Bazid Khan 87, Misbah-ul Haq 106, S Bahutule 4-38, S S Paul 3-44) lost to India 'A' 236 for 2 in 45 overs (M S Dhoni 119 not out, Gautam Gambhir 79).
