India slumped to yet another series defeat, as arch-rivals Pakistan spanked them by 85 runs in the second One-Day International to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match rubber, in Kolkata, on Thursday.
Riding on Nasir Jamshed's second consecutive century, the visitors, dismissed for 250, shot out the Indians for a paltry 165 with two overs to spare, at the Eden Gardens.
It was yet another woeful display by the famed Indian batting line-up, which is struggling for sometime now and largely responsible for the team's forgettable results in recent times.
The huge defeat will now raise questions on the future of some of India's under-performing batting stars, who have let the team down more often than not.
Mohammed Hafeez was the other contributor with a rollicking 76 off 74 balls.
The floodgates opened after the dismissal of Hafeez, as none of the other batsmen could hang around for long on a slow track, which made stroke-making difficult after the ball became older.
The Indians needed a good start from their struggling openers -- Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag -- but it did not materialise again, thus putting pressure on the jittery middle-order.
Sehwag (31), Gambhir (11), Virat Kohli (6), Yuvraj Singh (9) and Suresh Raina (18) perished in quick succession to give the visitors the upper hand in what eventually turned out to be a lop-sided contest.
Skipper Dhoni, who scored a heroic unbeaten 113 in the first ODI in Chennai, again provided some resistance with a cautious, unbeaten 54 but wickets kept tumbling at the other end to nullify his efforts.
The series defeat against Pakistan marks another low for the struggling team, which suffered an embarrassing Test series debacle against England at home and levelled a T20 series 1-1.
This defeat also rendered the third and final ODI at Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi on Sunday inconsequential.
The last time India were beaten by Pakistan at home was in 2004-05, when they lost the six-match series 2-4.
Now they have lost all the four matches they played against Pakistan at the Eden Gardens.
Chasing a modest 251, the under-fire opening duo of Gambhir and Sehwag had a sedate start. Sehwag scored a few boundaries but just when the partnership looked like blossoming, Junaid provided the breakthrough in the form of Gambhir.
The left-hander chased a widish delivery and the ball hit his stump after taking an inside edge of his blade.
It was a familiar story from there on as the failing middle-order found the going tough against some disciplined fast bowling from Umar Gul and Junaid.
India were reduced to 70 for four as the promising Kohli failed and Yuvraj could not get to double digits score, both dismissed caught behind off thin edges.
As India stuttered, Gul almost dismissed Raina running into the non-striking end but his throw missed the stumps with the Indian left-hander diving forward.
Raina also started his walk back when he was stumped off Hafeez.
Promoted ahead of Jadeja, Ashwin (3) did not last long, falling to the guile of Shoaib Malik for yet another stumping.
Jadeja (13) could not give the support Dhoni needed in the middle, as he was caught at mid-on and it was just a matter of time for the visitors to seal the series.
Earlier, under overcast conditions, Jamshed scored a fluent 106 off 126 balls (12x4, 2x6), and along with Hafeez (76 from 74b; 10x4) put up a handsome 141-run opening partnership. But India, riding on left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja's 3 for 41, made a dramatic comeback to dismiss Pakistan in 48.3 overs.
After providing the first breakthrough, Jadeja took two more wickets -- Jamshed and Kamran Akmal -- in one over to trigger a collapse, as Ishant Sharma (3-34) polished off the tail.
From 141 for no loss, Pakistan lost 10 wickets in 25 overs in what is a must-win match for the home side.
Put in to bat, the in-form Pakistan opening duo of Hafeez and Jamshed were at ease against the Indian pace attack up front and got off to a watchful start.
The inexperienced Indian attack of Ashok Dinda and Bhuvneshwar Kumar could not make use of the overcast conditions, as skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni would have expected them to after winning the toss.
It was intelligent cricket on display from the opening duo as they cleverly bisected the field to steal a boundary almost every over in the first Power Play to go almost six an over.
On his 'home' debut, Dinda was wayward with his bouncers, conceding three wides -- two in his second over while Bhuvneshwar too lacked the bite.
Against an ordinary Indian fielding that saw the ball flying past the fielders, it just made the ask easier for the Pakistani opening duo.
The 23-year-old Jamshed continued from where he had left in Chennai, while Hafeez made up for his duck with a sensible batting display by rotating the strike. The pair did not panic and so clinical was their
approach that they put on 100 runs in exactly 100 balls -- incidentally, Pakistan's first century stand by any opening pair at the Eden.
Hafeez completed his 15th half-century from 50 balls with a single to deep square leg.
After two overs, Jamshed notched his seventh half-century, hammering Ashwin for a boundary over long-on.
The new rules -- that stipulate five players inside the 30-yard circle for the full 50 overs -- added to India's misery as Pakistan's batsmen were not deprived of the boundaries.
Part-time spinner Jadeja finally got the breakthrough, almost at the midway stage, when Hafeez missed the ball while trying to break free.
Azhar Ali (2) continued his poor run; he was run-out after being sent back by Jamshed from the striking end as Pakistan lost their second wicket in four runs.
They quickly lost a third, when Younis Khan (10) was unlucky to be adjudged leg before despite a bat-pad as the Indians managed to arrest the free-flowing run-rate.
Jamshed, however, kept his cool in his elegant innings to bring up his second consecutive century, third overall, all against India.
Jamshed clobbered Jadeja over his head for a straight boundary to move to 96 and retained the strike, taking a single off the last ball.
The left-hander straight drove one uppishly in the mid-off boundary region to bring up yet another century against India.
But he could not carry his innings through, as he became Jadeja's second victim.
Jadeja claimed Kamran Akmal (0), his third wicket, in the same over to fashion Pakistan's middle order collapse.
Image: Pakistan opener Nasir Jamshed kisses the ground after scoring his second successive hundred at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Photograph: BCCI
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