With the help of superb knock of 99 runs of 104 balls by Mohammad Yusuf Pakistan team able to set 256 runs target for the Indian team. Earlier Pakistan Captain Shoiab Mallik won the toss and decided to bat first at Captain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior. Shoiab Mallik and Salman Butt came out to open the innings for Pakistan but R.P Singh strikes on his second delivery of first over to get rid of Salman Butt who scored brilliant century in the last match for duck. India could have made it two down very soon but for skipper MS Dhoni's lapse behind the stumps, and later on in the 15th over when Dhoni's catch was deemed to have bounced before it reached him, both off Younis Khan. However Captain Shoiab Mallik (31 runs of 55 balls) and Yunus Khan (68 runs of 99 balls) able to put on 78 runs for the second wicket before Zaheer Khan get Pakistani Captain to claim his 200th wickets in ODI. Introduction to Yuvraj Singh in the 30th over gave India third wickets when Yuvraj caught Yunus on his own bowling. Two overs later Saurav Ganguly strikes by picking boom-boom Shahid Afridi on 1 run of 4 balls to get India right back into the match. Saurav Ganguly is another player to achieve milestone by picking up his 100th ODI wickets. Mohammad Yusuf (99* runs of 104 balls) and Misbah-Ul-Haq (40 runs of 39 balls) help Pakistan team to reach a comparative total of 255/6 in allotted 50 overs with the help of solid partnership of 93 runs for the fifth wicket between. Both sides left out out their left-arm spinners; for Pakistan, Abdul Rehman made way for Rao Iftikhar Anjum, while India included Virender Sehwag leaving out Murali Karthik. Final Playing XI for Both Teams: India: Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C/WK), Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh. Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (C), Salman Butt, Mohammad Yousuf, Youis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal (WK), Shoaib Akhtar, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Soahil Tanvir, Umar Gul. Match Summary Pakistan –255/6 in 50 Overs Mohammad Yusuf – 99* Yunus Khan– 68 Zaheer Khan – 10-0-40-2 Yuvraj Singh - 3-0-12-1 |
