Younis brilliance keeps Pakistan alive

Karachi:Not for the first time, it came out amply that even scores around 300 are not guarantee for a win. India, after winning the toss, did not get quite enough while batting, and that gave Pakistan enough momentum to reel in the target of 309 with any real trouble, thanks mainly to Younis Khan, who scored a sparkling century, and some fine contributions from the other batsmen.

Pakistan were looking down the barrel when they came in to play this match with India, but at the end of the day, they were still in the race, as they chased down the highest-ever score to win at the National Stadium here.

India could possibly be paying the price for too much cricket, and too little respect for their rivals. While Pakistan did concede 308 runs while fielding, that score seems to be par for this rock hard square, so it could be said that the bowling set up a fine win, which was converted by the batsmen.

While it would be extremely unfair to castigate the Indian bowling, it was quite evident that the teeth were missing when India went in to defend the total, and at times it looked like the players were not being able to accelerate, even if they wanted to.

Misbah-ul-Haq, captaining Pakistan after Shoaib Malik collapsed during practice before the game, played with poise, as did Nasir Jamshed, who had replaced Malik in nthe squad. In fact, all the bastmen played some sort of part in the assault, and India never really got into the game.

In the afternoon, India met their first real challenge in the Asia Cup as Pakistan, playing with their backs to the wall, came up with their best bowling performance of the tournament as India finished at 308-7.

The score may not quite reflect the intent of the Pakistani bowlers, but the fact remains that they fought tooth and nail for every run.

Misbah marshalled the troops well, and the Pakistanis put in a much better display in the field.

Also, the Indian lower middle-order looked completely out of sorts, never having really been put into a testing situation before this.

It looked like business as usual for the Indian batsmen after Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and batted, with Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag beginning their assault on the bowlers early.

Things looked ominous as the strike bowler for Pakistan, Sohail Tanvir, for a change began to look ragged.

But Pakistan found a rescue party in medium-pacers Rao Ifthikhar Anjum, Abdur Rauf and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.

Anjum was instrumental in removing Gambhir while Raif dealth with Sehwag and Suresh Raina in quick succession. Anjum then later returned to remove Yivraj Singh, who was beginning to look ominous, and then the promising Rohit Sharma.

Ajmal also bowled a fine spell, completely baffling the aggressive Yusuf Pathan and returning figures of 1-47 in ten overs.

Incidentally, Rauf and Ajmal were comandeered for this game specifically, with the selectors deciding to take to radical steps.

Ironically, it was Tanvir, who suddenly has become the senior bowler in the Pakistan pace attack, who returned the worst figures of his career, 1-87 off ten overs.

India were back after a three-day lay-off and bolstered by the return of all-rounder Irfan Pathan.

Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar were the other two seamers with Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan being the two spinners. Robin Uthappa was rested for the game.

Pakistan, on the other hand, called up opener Nasir Jamshed to fill the void created by their skipper, while Amjal and Rauf were included in place of Wahab Riaz and Mansoor Amjad.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma.

Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir, Abdur Rauf, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Saeed Ajmal.

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