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Centurion: Twin half-centuries from Gautam Gambhir (57) and Rahul Dravid (76) turned out to be heroics for a lost cause as India wilted under pressure to suffer a 54-run defeat to arch rivals Pakistan in their nerve-wrecking opening Champions Trophy match on Saturday.
Asked to chase a big target of 303, mainly due to the listless performance by their slow bowlers, India were all out for 248 in 44.5 overs to start their Champions Trophy campaign on a losing note, in front of a packed house at SuperSport Park.
Gambhir's dominating 46-ball 57 at the top of order gave India hopes of a successful run chase after Sachin Tendulkar (8) fell early while Dravid held one end together for more than 37 overs for his 103-ball innings which included just four boundaries.
Suresh Raina was the other main contributor with a quick 41-ball 46, which included five fours and two sixes.
Earlier, Shoaib Malik (128) led a late explosive batting with a scintillating century to propel Pakistan to 302/9 after his captain Younis Khan opted to bat on a slow pitch after winning the toss.
Pakistan, who notched up their second win against India in an ICC event after their victory in 2004 Champions Trophy in England, have virtually qualified for the semi-finals from Group A as they had beaten the West Indies by five wickets in their opening match on September 23.
India, on the other hand, will have to beat both Australia and West Indies on September 28 and 30 respectively to make it to the last four stage.
Just before Raina was out in the 35th over, India were still in the chase at 205/4 with asking rate just over 6.5 per over and Dravid past his half century.
After Yusuf Pathan was out cheaply for five, the run rate climbed up and India needed 74 from the last 10 overs with four wickets in hand.
But once Dravid, who made a comeback in the Indian ODI squad after a while, was run out in the 42nd over following a mix up with Harbhajan Singh at 238 for seven, the match was all over for India.
The last three batsmen could contribute just 10 runs to lose the plot in the much anticipated showdown.
For Pakistan, four bowlers -- Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Aamer, Saeed Ajmal and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan -- took two wickets apiece.
Tendulkar failed to replicate his match-winning exploits against the same opponents at the same venue in the 2003 World Cup as fell cheaply for just eight.
The batting maestro edged a Mohammad Aamer slow delivery to wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal in the fifth over to the stunned silence of the Indian supporters.
His opening partner Gambhir, however, took the battle on to the Pakistanis to ensure that India were ahead of the required run rate of just above six an over before he was run out in dramatic fashion.
Gambhir was sent back by Dravid who pushed the ball towards mid-off and the former was on his way as Younis Khan's direct throw from hit the stumps. In his 46-ball 57, his 16th one-day half century, Gambhir hit seven fours and two sixes, off a free hit each from Aamer and Umar Gul.
Virat Kohli (16) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (6) fell in quick succession off Afridi just as the run rate dropped down six an over as the Pakistani slow bowlers extracted turn from the slow SuperSport Park pitch which the Indians had failed to do earlier in the match.
Kohli holed out to Gul long-off in the 22nd over while trying to push the scoring rate and 14 balls later Dhoni was rapped on the pad to return to the hut and signal deep trouble for India at 133/4.
Dravid and Raina kept Indian hopes alive with run-a-ball 72-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Raina was more dominating hitting Shoaib Malik for two fours and a six off three successive deliveries in the 33rd over before he fell LBW to Ajmal two overs later.
Earlier, man-of-the-match Shoaib Malik (128) led a late explosion with a scintillating century to propel Pakistan to 302/9.
Pakistan exploded in the second half of their innings with Malik and Mohammad Yousuf, who scored an 88-ball 87, sharing a 206-run stand for the fourth wicket from 188 balls after they were reduced to 65/3 in the 15th over.
Except for Ashish Nehra (4/55) all other Indian bowlers, including Harbhajan Singh, failed to deliver after Pakistan chose to bat first.
Harbhajan (1/71), who was India's trump card on a slow SuperSport Park pitch, was wayward giving width to Malik and Yousuf and was clobbered all around.
Ishant Sharma did a shade better by taking two wickets towards the close for 39 runs while RP Singh and Yousuf Pathan took a wicket apiece.
As Indian bowlers lost the plot, Pakistan recovered from 108/3 at the end of 25th over to 217/3 in the 40th over to finally end at 302/9.
Malik played sheet anchor initially before opening up later. He took 81 balls to score his fifty but accelerated to reach his hundred off 108 balls. He was out in the penultimate over after facing 126 balls, from which he hit 16 fours.
