India beat Pak by 6 wickets in 1st Test, go 1-0 up in 3-match seri

New Delhi, Nov 26 (UNI) Sachin Tendulkar (56 not out) and his 88-run stand for the fourth wicket with Sourav Ganguly (48) guided India to an easy six-wicket victory over Pakistan in the first Test on the fifth day at the Feroz Shah Kotla here today.

With the win today, India's third win over the arch rivals in this venue, the hosts took 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Tendulkar, who became the highest Test run getter yesterday, surpassing Australian great Allan Border, was unbeaten on 56 (110b; 9x4) and VVS Laxman, the first innings half centurion, remained not out on 6 (12b; 1x4).

Opener Wasim Jaffer made valuable 53 (81b; 8x4) runs while Rahul Dravid chipped in with 36 (96 balls; 5X4).

Resuming at 171 for 3, India scored the required 32 runs in just 6.2 overs and 32 minutes in the morninig session by losing one wicket -- that of Ganguly.

Ganguly was out in the third over of the morning without adding any run to his overnight 48, caught at fine-leg by Sohail Tanvir while trying to pull a Shoaib Akhtar delivery.

The former India captain made his 48 from 64 balls with the help of eight boundaries and when he was out, India were 181 for three, just 22 runs short of victory.

Tendulkar, who was sedate yesterday in a bid to keep wickets intact, was in a punishing mood this morning and seemed to want to end the game in a hurry.

He pulled Akhtar for a four to the long-leg boundary in the second ball of the day and first ball of the bowler and next over repeated the same shot off a short delivery by Mohommad Sami for the same result.

Thee Little Master gave the same treatment to Danish Kaneria with a backfoot cover drive boundary which brought up his 46th Test fifty before finishing off the game in style with a four off Akhtar.

For Pakistan, Akhtar claimed all the India's second innings wickets and returned with figures of 4 for 58 from his 18.1 overs (match figure of 6/102 in 34.1 overs) while Tanvir, Sami and Kaneria were wicketless in India's second innings.

Yesterday, Pakistan were all out for 247 in the morning session to set a victory target of 203 for India. The visitors could score only 231 in their first innings, with Misbah-ul-Haq top-scoring with 82, after electing to bat on a slow and low Kotla pitch.

India had scored 276 all out in their first innings with half centuries from Laxman (72 not out) and MS Dhoni (57).

Among the hosts bowlers, Anil Kumble returned with match figures of 7 for 106 from 48.3 overs. He was also adjudged man-of-the-match in his debut captain Test.

Zaheer Khan claimed four Pakistani batsmen in the match while giving away 90 runs from his 38 overs.

Harbhajan bowled 32 overs to return with figures of 3 for 93 while Ganguly chipped in with 3 for 48 from 23 overs.

Munaf Patel, who was drafted at the 11th hour after RP Singh and S Sreesanth were ruled out due to injury, took 109 from 24 overs in Pakistan's first innings and did not bowl in the visitors' second innings.

UNI