A team that thus far had made 886 runs for the loss of 18 wickets off 140.3 overs in the preceding three games (including 292/5 on a seaming track in the third game, off 47.4) toyed, early on, with a thought: Should we canter? Or should we make things a touch interesting for fans, do their blood pressure a bit of no good?

Off the third ball of the second over, Sachin Tendulkar reached across to touch a Mohammad Sami delivery that started wide and went wider; Akmal was duly grateful.

Gautam Gambhir, for his part, seemed quite circumspect; content to wait for the bad ball to come along. The 5th ball of the 5th over was one such – short from Sami, going nowhere, and Gamhir, already on the front foot, transferred weight nicely and rocked into a fierce pull. The first ball of the sixth over was upper cut over slips, the next blasted through point, two dot balls later, an immaculate straight drive fetched a third four. And then Gambhir went into the pull, this time caught on the front foot with inufficient time to transfer back, got it high on the bat, put it higher still in the air, and Sami ran the length of the pitch and held at silly point, then glared at Imran Farhat who, dashing in from point, had done his best to get in the bowler’s way (21 off 20 Gambhir, 29/2 India).

This was a conventional chase; the team saw no need for wild cards. Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh got together, and began an extended net against a lineup of Pakistan bowlers who, with no runs to defend, opted for short lengths and overt machismo in preference to the fuller length.

Yuvraj Singh tapped the ball around for 13 deliveries, then got going with an immaculate on drive off Rana Naved, following it up a ball later with a straight drive. Dravid, with the target clearly in sight, uncorked shots he normally doesn’t play that early in the innings, mixing up his trademark drives and flicks off the pads with upper cuts and fierce pulls.

By the 15th over, the score was 71/2 (Pakistan 38/4); the run rate was up to 4.79 and the ask had been brought down from 3.22 to 2.59. Neither batsman looked to force the pace – they didn’t need to. With Pakistan’s bowlers clearly demoralized, the hittable ball was always around the corner, and Yuvraj and Dravid waited… and waited… and clinically cashed in. The 50 of the partnership (Dravid 26 off 28; Yuvraj 21 off 32) came off 65 balls in the 17th over.

The most interesting part of the proceedings was further confirmation that Yuvraj is maturing in a hurry. There never was any doubt about the quality of his shot-making; he has always had the ability to caress a particular ball in one direction, then bludgeon the identical delivery in quite another, alternating rapier and broadsword at will. Increasingly, though, he has acquired patience; he will wait, if his partner is going well he will rein himself in and willingly play second fiddle – as he did in game three when Dhoni fired, and as he did here while his captain eased into strokeplay.

His wicket came as a surprise – a fuller length delivery from Rana Naved, in the 24th over, inexplicably found his feet anchored in concrete; the ball angled across, touched the edge and went through to Akmal (114/3 in 23.2; run rate of 4.92 and an ask, for the 47 runs that remained, of 1.84; 37 off 57 Yuvraj and a partnership of 85 in 17.2 overs that ensured Pakistan wouldn’t break through).

Mohammad Kaif’s rotten run continued – and his total lack of confidence showed in the manner of his dismissal. To a short, wide ball from Razzaq in the very next over, Kaif stood rooted in position, swished schoolboy fashion with his bat, and walked almost before Inzamam pouched the catch at slip.

There was a point in time when Kaif was the assured accumulator, Yuvraj the flighty showman; even as Yuvraj acquired poise and assurance, Kaif’s game has fallen away dramatically.

Dravid, who brought up his 67th (65 deliveries) ODI half century between the wickets of Yuvraj and Kaif, kept stroking fluidly. His innings had it all – patience, power, finesse (when he plays off his pads, even Euclid applauds). One ball after he had delicately threaded Sami through the covers, a swinging, dipping full toss bowled from wide of the crease angling in to middle saw him miss his pet shot for the first time this innings – and up went the finger on the shout. Dravid (59 off 72; India 133/5).

Suresh Raina started off with a thick outer edge along the ground to third man, followed up with a deft flick for two off his pads, then opened his shoulders and slammed Rana Naved through the covers to celebrate having, finally, got an opportunity to bat. The standout, though, was off Razzaq in the over after Dravid went – a superlative off drive off the back foot, then a glide onto the front foot, going low into the shot and a full flourish on the extra cover drive left the field standing, and partner Mahendra Singh Dhoni applauding.

Those shots brought the ask to 20 at one run per over; Raina then turned on Asif, with two braces on either side of the wicket separated by another elegant cover drive for four. Dhoni seemed to like the view so much, he raced a very quick single, went to the other end, and applauded another caressed cover drive from Raina, this time off a full toss from Sami.

For someone who plays so many shots, Raina has a very good defense – and, on the evidence of his very few outings thus far, an assured sense of which balls to hit. Imran Farhat got to bowl the last over of the game, with India needing just 4; Raina pulled the third ball of the 33rd over to seal the win – and in the pavilion, the team did a jig to celebrate their second straight ODI series win in Pakistan.

For Dravid, the comfortable 5-wicket win with a tick under 17 overs to spare, must have been especially sweet –in 2005, when Pakistan pulled back from 2-0 down to take the series with four straight victories, he had led in the last three of those games, and been pilloried for the result. This time, he has reversed it -- India came in to the series as the underdogs, and have outplayed the hosts in every department.