The Hindu : Sport : Pakistan romps home in style

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 31, 2005

Sport

Sport

Pakistan romps home in style

By Abhijit Sen Gupta

THE HERO: Shoaib Malik cuts Ramesh Powar en route to his unbeaten 81 against India `A' in Hyderabad. — Photo: P. V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD, MARCH 30. Pakistan, after restricting India `A' to 189 for seven in a match reduced to 45 overs per side, romped home in 41 overs at the Visaka Stadium here on Wednesday.

Shoaib Malik, with a few lusty hits late in the day, remained unbeaten on 81 off 77 balls with four sixes and an equal number of fours. The second wicket stand of 137 between Malik and Salman Butt ensured a victory for the team.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and decided to field. Abdul Razzaq led the side with Pakistan resting some of its top players, which includes Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Yousuf Youhana and Mohammed Sami.

Rana Naved, who opened the bowling, got two early breakthroughs with Dhoni edging to Shoaib Malik at first slip and removing Shikhar Dhawan with a perfect yorker.

Y. Venugopala Rao, who came in next, drew some cheers from the sparse crowd with some fluent drives. He didn't last long when he skied a delivery from Arshad Khan, which went to Anjum at wide long on who made no mistake.

Raina comes good

Sriram (38, 2x4) was then run out after a mix up with Suresh Raina, which saw both batsmen stranded at the same end. Raina compiled a hard hitting half century before essaying a wild hit and snicked the ball into the gloves of Shoaib Malik. His 55 contained five boundaries and came off 64 balls.

When Pakistan began its reply, the openers Salman Butt and Md. Hafeez seemed to be in no hurry to force the pace. The partnership was broken when a mix up over a call for a run resulted in Hafeez being run out. This brought Shoaib Malik to the middle and thereafter the run rate picked up. The side's 50 had come in the 18th over but the next 50 came in the 26th over. The second wicket partnership of 137 between Butt and Malik took Pakistan to the verge of victory before Butt lost his off stump to a delivery from Ranadeb Bose. Skipper Razzaq came in next to finish the formalities.

The scores:

India A: S. Dhawan b Naved 8; M.S. Dhoni c Malik b Naved 3; S. Sriram (run out) 38; Y. Venugopala Rao c Anjum b Arshad 20; S. Raina c Malik b Anjum 55; N. Patel b Nazir 18; R. Powar run out 16; S. Bahutule (not out) 12; A. Bhandari (not out) 1. Extras (b-5, lb-1, w-6, nb- 6) 18. Total (for seven wickets in 45 overs) 189.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-31, 3-77, 4-82, 5-118, 6-157, 7-182.

Pakistan bowling: Naved 9-1-42-2, Anjum 9-0-31-1, Nazir 9-1-26-1, Hafeez 5-0-18-0, Arshad 6-0-22-1, Kaneria 3-0-20-0, Razzaq 4-0-24-0.

Pakistan: S. Butt b Bose 70; Md. Hafeez (run out) 16; S. Malik (not out) 81; A. Razzaq (not out) 1. Extras (b-1, w-15, nb-6) 22. Total (for two wickets in 41 overs): 190.

Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-184.

India `A' bowling: Bhandari 9-1-22-0, R.P. Singh 8-0-25-0, Bose 8-0-41-1, Bahutule 7-0-33-0, Powar 3-0-31-0, Sriram 6-1-37-0.

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