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| Monday, 26 July 2004 |
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Malik's century keeps Pakistan afloat - Lanka in final By Sa'adi Thawfeeq Shoaib Malik came up with a brilliant all-round performance scoring 143 runs and capturing the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh to steer Pakistan to a 59-run win over India in their Asia Cup cricket match played under lights at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday. Pakistan scored 300 for nine wickets off 50 overs after choosing to bat first and then restricted India to 241 for eight wickets off 50 overs. India however grabbed a crucial bonus point by edging past the total of 240 runs in the final ball of the match. Pakistan though winning yesterday got only five points while India took one bonus point. By virtue of India's point, Sri Lanka with 12 points are in the final leaving the other place to be fought out between Asian giants India and Pakistan. India has 7 points from two matches and Pakistan 5 from two. India will have to beat Sri Lanka on Tuesday to assure themselves of a place in the final. Otherwise, Pakistan who plays Bangladesh on Thursday needs only a win to go through to the final. India's chance of chasing Pakistan's score of 300 was snuffed in the second over when Shabbir Ahmed had Sehwag caught behind for one. From then onwards India were pushed onto the backfoot and wickets kept on falling at regular intervals with no one being able to forge a big partnership with Tendulkar who kept one end going. No sooner the fifth wicket fell at 151 in the 30th over, India closed shop and concentrated on achieving the bonus point, which was vital for them in the context of qualifying for the final. Although they achieved their objective in the end cricket wise it was a shame to see the team arguably with the best batting line up in the world not going after the winning target but playing for a bonus point. India went into this match one batsman short (they left out Laxman for leg spinner Kumble) and Tendulkar was left to play an anchor role to edge India close to the bonus point total. He was out at 214, when 26 were needed off seven overs. Although India lost two further wickets that of Pathan for 38 and Harbhajan for two, their ninth wicket pair saw them through. If Pakistan fail to make it to the final they will be left to reflect back on the catch that Akhtar spilled at long-off from Pathan when he was on four. The left-hander played a vital knock of 38 off 75 balls sharing an important stand of 63 off 80 balls with Tendulkar. Tendulkar was out pulling a ball to mid on. He batted 103 balls and hit seven fours in his 67th one-day fifty. Malik propped up the Pakistani batting with a career best knock of 143 off 127 balls. Yesterday's performance from Pakistan was a far cry from their disappointing total of 122 against Sri Lanka they got four days ago. Pakistan lost Imran Nazir in the first over for one when he was trapped lbw by Pathan. But his dismissal only brought together Yasir Hameed and Malik in a second wicket partnership that produced 103 off 107 balls. The stand served as a base to propel the Pakistan total to 300. To say that Malik played the sheet anchor role would be an understatement because although he batted for 45 overs, he was never curtailed in his strokeplay. He made full use of missed chance at 35 when Sehwag managed to get only a hand to slash off Nehra at slip to complete his fifty off 41 balls (9 fours). Then on 99 he went through some agonizing moments for a run out which was put to the third umpire for a decision when bowler Balaji threw down the wicket at the non-striker's end as Malik scampered for a single. Gamini Silva, the third umpire ruled in favour of Malik. It was a close decision and wasn't there relief on Malik's face. To score a hundred against India is the dream of every Pakistan cricketer, and Malik was nearly deprived of that. It took him 95 balls and 14 fours. Having got over that hurdle Malik continued the assault on the Indian bowlers making full use of their inconsistency in line and length. Even the fielding wilted to some extent with a couple of catches being put down and several misfields. For the 22-year-old Malik from Sialkot it has been a fairy tale turn in his career. Beginning as an off-break bowler he was reported for a suspected bowling action three years ago. On his return to the side after remedy he was never the same bowler. But Waqar Younis, then captain of Pakistan saw the potential in him as a batsman and promoted him to open the batting in the one-day game. He has never looked back since and has gone from strength to strength. Yesterday's century was his fourth in the shorter version of the game and his second in the present tournament following the 118 scored against Hong Kong at the SSC. Malik added 66 off 77 balls with Inzamam (34) and 63 off 56 balls with Youhana (29) as Pakistan kept up a rapid run rate of five an over. India were able to pull back only in the latter stages of the innings after Malik was finally caught at long off by Kaif off Tendulkar at 277-5 in the 46th over. Five wickets tumbled for 23 runs as Pakistan finally closed on 300-9 when a total of 320 or thereabouts was on the cards at one time. Tendulkar bowling leg breaks took two wickets off successive balls to finish with the best figures of three for 28 off five overs, having conceded 12 in his first over. Pathan also finished with three wickets for 52 grabbing two wickets in the slog overs. PAKISTAN Imran Nazir lbw b Pathan 1 Yasir Hameed b Kumble 31 Shoaib Malik c Kaif b Tendulka 143 Inzamam-ul-Haq c Y.Singh b H.Singh 34 Yousuf Youhana c Kaif b Kumble 29 Abdul Razzaq b Pathan 22 Moin Khan c H.Singh b Pathan 14 Younis Khan b Tendulkar 4 Mohammad Sami c Kaif b Tendulkar 1 Shoaib Akhtar not out 0 EXTRAS (lb-6 w-11 nb-4) 21 TOTAL (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 300 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-2 2-105 3-171 4-234 5-277 6-286 7-296 8-300 9-300. Did not bat: Shabbir Amhed BOWLING: Pathan 10-052-3 (nb-2, w-4), Balaji 7-0-61-0 (w-5), Nehra 8-1-54-0 (nb-1, w-1), H.Singh 10-0-50-1, Kumble 10-0-49-2 (nb-1), Tendulkar 5-0-28-3 (w-1). India: S.Ganguly (captain), R.Dravid, S.Tendulkar, V.Sehwag, Y.Singh, M.Kaif, A.Kumble, H.Singh, A.Nehra, I.Pathan, L.Balaji. India innings (target: 301 runs from 50 overs)
V Sehwag c Moin Khan b Shabbir Ahmed 1
SR Tendulkar c Imran Nazir b Shoaib Malik 78
*SC Ganguly b Mohammad Sami 39
+R Dravid lbw b Abdul Razzaq 5
Yuvraj Singh c & b Shoaib Malik 28
M Kaif run out (Younis Khan/Moin Khan) 3
IK Pathan c Imran Nazir b Shoaib Akhtar 38
Harbhajan Singhc Younis Khanb Shabbir Ahmed 2
L Balaji not out 5
A Kumble not out 4
Extras (b 2, lb 13, w 10, nb 13) 38
Total (8 wickets, 50 overs, 220 mins) 241
DNB: A Nehra.
FoW: 1-17 (Sehwag, 1.3 ov), 2-79
(Ganguly, 12.5 ov),
3-94 (Dravid, 15.6 ov), 4-139
(Yuvraj Singh, 24.4 ov),
5-151 (Kaif, 28.5 ov), 6-214
(Tendulkar, 42.6 ov),
7-223 (Harbhajan Singh, 45.5 ov),
8-233 (Pathan, 48.5 ov).
Bowling O M R W
Shoaib Akhtar 10 0 51 1
Shabbir Ahmed 10 0 38 2
Mohammad Sami 10 0 57 1
Abdul Razzaq 10 2 38 1
Shoaib Malik 10 0 42 2
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