Monday, 15 November 2004 |
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Butt butts India to defeat Calcutta, India, Sunday Salman Butt overcame a bout of cramps to hammer an unbeaten maiden century as Pakistan beat India by six wickets in a thrilling day-night match here on Saturday. The left-handed opener, 20, smashed 13 fours in his aggressive 108 not out to help Pakistan surpass a big Indian total of 292-6 with one over to spare in front of nearly 100,000 spectators at Eden Gardens. Butt, playing only his sixth one-dayer, had retired hurt due to cramps on 68 but returned after the dismissal of Yousuf Youhana to continue in the same vein and steer Pakistan to their fourth successive win against India. The hosts rode on left-handed Yuvraj Singh's explosive 62-ball 78 to post their highest total at this venue before being surprised by Butt's fireworks. The one-off match under lights was played to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Indian cricket board. None of the Indian bowlers could pressure Butt, who struck the ball fluently during his match-winning knock. "I just could not have asked for anything better than this. It's a great gift from God," said Butt, named man of the match. Butt put Pakistan on the right track with a 113-run stand for the second wicket with Shoaib Malik (61) before steering his team home with a 98-run stand for the fourth wicket with skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, who scored a responsible run-a-ball 75. The Pakistani captain hit one six and eight fours in his 73rd half-century, while Malik cracked two sixes and five fours in his 55-ball knock. "I think every total is chaseable these day, but still India's total of 292 was big," Inzamam said after Pakistan's first one-dayer in India in five years. "But the boys were determined. Credit should go to Butt and Malik for providing us a good start. Butt played a really good knock." India were indebted to Yuvraj for reaching a big total as the left-hander hit two sixes and 10 fours in his 16th half-century. His hard and clean hitting helped his team plunder 105 in the closing 11 overs. "We posted a big total but never looked like winning the match," said Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. "They've won four matches in a row against us and that shows they have been playing better cricket than us. They batted superbly, especially Butt." India appeared to have lost the momentum after Pakistani leg-spinner Shahid Afridi grabbed two wickets in successive overs, but Yuvraj came to his team's rescue with a quick-fire knock. Afridi removed well-set Venkatsai Laxman (43) and Virender Sehwag (53) before Yuvraj put on 74 for the fifth wicket with Ganguly (48) and 53 for the next with Mohammad Kaif. India were strongly placed at 111-1 before faltering against Afridi, who took the two quick wickets to reduce the hosts to 124-3. Yuvraj and Ganguly repaired the damage with sensible batting, but the Indians were later upstaged by Butt.
INDIA V.Sehwag b Shahid Afridi 53 S.Tendulkar run out 16 V.Laxman c Kamran Akmal b Shahid Afridi 43 S.Ganguly c Kamran Akmal b Shoaib Akhtar 48 R.Dravid c Shahid Afridi b Abdul Razzaq 16 Y.Singh c Younis Khan b Naved-ul-Hasan 78 M.Kaif not out 14 I.Pathan not out 0 EXTRAS (b-4 lb-6 w-11 nb-3) 24 TOTAL (for six wickets, 50 overs) 292 Fall of wickets: 1-29 2-111 3-124 4-163 5-237 6-290 Did not bat: H.Singh, Z.Khan, A.Nehra Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 9-1-55-1 (nb-1 w-3), Naved-ul-Hasan 9-1-67-1 (nb-1 w-4), Mohammad Sami 6-0-51-0 (w-1), Shahid Afridi 10-0-29-2 (w-2), Shoaib Malik 6-0-31-0, Abdul Razzaq 10-0-49-1 (nb-1 w-1) PAKISTAN Salman Butt not out 108 Younis Khan c Sehwag b Khan 0 Shoaib Malik c Kaif b Sehwag 61 Inzamam-ul-Haq c Sehwag b Nehra 75 Yousuf Youhana c Dravid b Nehra 18 Abdul Razzaq not out 1 EXTRAS (lb-5 w-23 nb-2) 30 TOTAL (for four wickets, 49 overs) 293 Did not bat: Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar Fall of wickets: 1-15 2-128 3-186 4-284 Bowling: Pathan 10-1-48-0 (w-5), Khan 10-1-47-1 (nb-1 w-5), Nehra 10-0-65-2 (nb-1 w-4), Harbhajan 10-0-51-0 (w-5), Sehwag 6-0-43-1 (w-4), Tendulkar 1-0-15-0, Ganguly 1-0-9-0, Yuvraj 1-0-10-0. |
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