Kanpur - Stand-in captain Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Kaif hit half-centuries as India recovered from early blows by Rana Naved to post 249 for six in the fifth one-day International against Pakistan on Friday.
Naved removed the formidable opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag in his first three overs and dismissed Mahendra Dhoni in the fourth as India slipped to 26 for three after electing to bat on the slow Green Park wicket.
Dravid and Kaif put on 135 for the fifth wicket to steer India out of deep trouble after Yuvraj Singh was bowled by Abdul Razzaq for 18 to make it 59 for four by the 17th over.
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Dravid, leading India in place of Sourav Ganguly, top-scored with 86 before he was run out in the final over attempting a quick second run.
| Local boy Kaif delighted his home crowd with 78 |
Local boy Kaif delighted his home crowd with 78 off 88 balls, an attractive knock with nine boundaries.
Ganguly was eligible to play after he appealed the six-match ban imposed on him by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for slow over rates during the previous two matches in Jamshedpur and Ahmedabad.
But the Indian Cricket Board decided to keep the out-of-form Ganguly at home in Calcutta, leaving Dravid to lead in the key game.
The six-match series is tied 2-2 after Pakistan, down 0-2, bounced back to win the third and fourth matches.
Left-hander Dinesh Mongia, filling in the vacancy created by Ganguly in the middle-order, hit an unbeaten 33 off 28 balls in his first match in the series.
Mongia, who hit two successive sixes off Arshad Khan, helped Dravid add 54 off 44 balls for the sixth wicket to enable India to set a 250-run target.
India hope to use their spin twins, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, to exploit the slow wicket in the second session.
Pakistan took the field without pace spearhead Mohammad Sami, suffering a heel injury, and leg-spinner Danish Kaneria.
They were replaced by seamer Rao Iftikhar and off-spinner Arshad.
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