India take 1-0 lead in Tri-Series: Praveen and Chawla seal victory over Pakistan

Half-centuries from Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh had guided India to a formidable 330 for eight and Pakistan's hopes of reeling in that target were effectively ended by Kumar's opening spell.

The 21-year-old claimed the first four wickets of the innings to leave Pakistan 81 for four.

India's bowler Pravin Kumar appeals for lbw afer trapping Pakistan's Mohammad Yousaf

Teenage leg-spinner Piyush Chawla then took over, claiming four wickets of his own to wrap up the Pakistan innings for 190 in just 35.4 overs.

India's victory prevented Pakistan from confirming their place in Saturday's final after they defeated tournament hosts Bangladesh on Sunday.

Kumar struck twice in two balls in the third over to immediately undermine the Pakistan reply.

Salman Butt (nine) struck the paceman for six from the second ball of the over but was sent packing next ball when Rohit Sharma completes a brilliant catch at cover point.

And Kumar struck again from his next delivery when Younis Khan feathered a simple catch the MS Dhoni.

Mohammad Yousuf (11) was trapped lbw in Kumar's next over, but despite the steady flow of wickets, Kamran Akmal continued to attack the bowling.

The opener had struck four fours and two sixes before he became Kumar's fourth victim, swatting a full toss to Yusuf Pathan at mid-off for a breezy 38 from 35 balls.

Pakistan's hopes slipped further away when Misbah-ul-Haq (24) fell soon after to leave them badly placed at 94 for five.

Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi set about retrieving the situation with a 44-run stand, but Chawla brought their resistance to an end when he had Afridi (23) stumped by Dhoni.

India's captain MS Dhoni celebrates after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Younus Khan

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as the Pakistan batsmen continued to look for quick runs despite the situation, which fell into the hands of Chawla, who claimed figures of four for 40.

Kumar finished with four for 53, while Malik was Pakistan's top scorer, contributing 53.
Earlier, an impressive opening partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Sehwag set the foundations of an impressive India total.

India's Gautam Gambhir lets rip

Both players were dropped early in their innings, and Pakistan were made to pay for their mistakes as first Sehwag and then Gambhir notched up quick fifties.

The duo continued to pile on the runs and raced to an opening stand of 155 within 22 overs before Gambhir was the first to be dismissed on 62, edging Wahab Riaz's full length delivery to Akmal.

Sehwag lasted just two more overs, falling to the same combination after he edged a slower delivery from Riaz straight into Akmal's gloves, departing for a fine 89 from 76 deliveries, including 13 fours and one six.

Yuvraj was happy to pick up where the openers had left off, adding more runs to India's total, but he lost partners at the other end as debutant Yusuf Pathan (three) holed out to Iftikhar Anjum off the bowling of Afridi, while Rohit Sharma (nine) also fell cheaply when he chopped the ball onto his own stumps to give Afridi his second wicket.

Dhoni then arrived in the middle and set about his innings in his usual belligerent fashion, hitting a quickfire 24 off 23 balls, including four boundaries before being trapped lbw by Sohail Tanvir.

Having notched up his 36th ODI fifty, Yuvraj was the next to depart when he was bowled on 55 by Umar Gul.

Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina led India beyond the 300 mark before both fell to the bowling of Gul.

Pathan (18) was the second of Gul's victims, spooning a full toss to Malik in the covers.

Gul then removed Raina (26) three balls later when he flicked the ball off his legs straight to Misbah-ul-Haq.

Kumar (seven) and Chawla (0) were unbeaten at the end of India's 50 overs, while Gul finished with figures of three for 61 for Pakistan.