With the help of superb bowling from both the spinners Harbhajan Singh (10-0-29-1) and Murali Karthik (10-0-36-0) Indians able to restrict Pakistan to a modest total of 239/7 in the allotted 50 overs. In reply Indians were 70/1 after 12.2 overs with Gautam Gambhir not out on 25 runs and Saurav Ganguly batting on 31. India have lost Sachin Tendulkar (4 runs of 7 balls) early when he trapped lbw by Shoiab Akhtar. Earlier Pakistan captain Shoiab Mallik won the toss and decided to bat first on a wicket that was looking like batting paradise. But superb bowling for Indians derailed the visitors’ hopes of setting a huge target for the Indians. However some Pakistanis batsman do get start but didn’t capitalize on same. Mohammad Yusuf the highest run getter in test matches in a year 2007-08 manage to face Indian bowling with ease and scored brilliant (83 not out off 88 balls with eight fours), Salman Butt (50 off 57 balls with eight boundaries), Shahid Afridi (31 off 32 balls with a four and a six) and Misabh-ul-Haq (27 off 26 balls with 2 fours) contributing to the total. From India Sachin Tendulkar manage to pick two wickets in the late over of Pakistanis inning while Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh manage to take one wickets each. Earlier Pakistan got up to solid start with both the openers able to put 44 runs for the first wicket. However Irfan Pathan able to get rid of Kamran Akmal when he was on 12 in the 11th over and gave India their first breakthrough. Zaheer Khan struggled a little bit with his line and length in the initial stages of the match as the Pakistan batsmen, particularly Salman Butt, helped himself to a couple of boundaries while from the other end R P Singh bowled a good line and length. Salman Butt after completing his quick fire fifty got run out after mix up with his other partner Younis Khan as Pakistan score fell to 69/2. In the process of accelerating the run rate Younis Khan only manage to give simple catch on long on boundary to Irfan Pathan for 26 runs on the bowling of Harbhajan Singh. Introduction of Sachin Tendulkar gave India two successive breakthrough when he picked up wickets of Shahid Afridi and Shoiab Mallik to restrict Pakistan to modest total of 239/7. For today’s match India rested Praveen Kumar, Virendra Sehwag, S.Sreesanth & Rohit Sharma from playing eleven. Match Summary Pakistan –239/7 in 50 Overs Mohammad Yusuf – 83* Salman Butt – 50 Sachin Tendulkar – 5-0-33-2 Harbhajan Singh - 10-0-29-1 Final Playing XI for Both Team: India: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C & WK), Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik and Rudra Pratap Singh. Pakistan: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (WK), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik (C), Misbah-ul-Haq, , Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikar and Abdul Rehman. |
