Belligerent Shoaib inspires Pakistan to crucial victory
By Rehan Siddiqui
COLOMBO, July 25: Inspired by a career-best 143 from all-rounder Shoaib Malik, Pakistan brushed aside India by 59 runs at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday to remain in contention for a place in the Asia Cup final.
Shoaib's belligerent 127-ball knock, embellished with 18 fours and one six, powered Pakistan to a formidable 300 for nine. India, in reply, were restricted to 241 for eight on a sultry night. However, by reaching this total, the Indians also managed to deny Pakistan the crucial bonus point.
Sri Lanka are now almost assured of their place in the final as they lead the standings with 12 points. India, who must beat the hosts on Tuesday to make it to the final, have seven points while Pakistan have only five. An Indian defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka remains the only hope for Inzamamul Haq's men to qualify. They meet Bangladesh on Thursday in the last Super League match.
After their horrendous batting display against Sri Lanka earlier in the week, everything clicked for Pakistan against the arch-rivals after Inzamam called correctly for the second successive match. As for the Indians, nothing went right. They bowled poorly, fielded indifferently and their main strength - the batting - let them down.
Shoaib Malik, riding his luck with a series of unorthodox strokes, made India's modest bowling resources look mediocre. He received solid support from Yasir Hameed, Inzamam, Yousuf Youhana and Abdul Razzaq as the Indian bowlers and fielders suffered.
With the frontline bowlers erring in direction and line, the hard-pressed Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly, in a desperate move, brought on Sachin Tendulkar during the closing overs.
The little master restricted Pakistan to a mere 29 runs from the final five overs while bowling in tandem with the left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan. In the process, they combined to claim five wickets between them as Pakistan searched for quick runs.
Never before has a batting side successfully chased 300 on this ground. And so it was proved as the Indian batting powerhouse, playing six specialist batsmen after Vangipurappu Laxman was ruled out through injury, collapsed.
The only time when Pakistan appeared to be rattled was when Ganguly and Tendulkar were at the crease. However, the dismissal of Ganguly and the reliable Rahul Dravid virtually ended India's hopes of climbing the mountain.
Tendulkar stayed long enough but never looked in command on his way to 78. After a long struggle, he top-edged a catch off Shoaib Malik, who had earlier dismissed the dangerous Yuvraj Singh.
While fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was disappointing, the other bowlers, Abdul Razzaq and Shabbir Ahmed in particular, were superb. Razzaq bowled unchanged under difficult conditions and made the Indians work for every run. Even then, the spate of wides and no-balls once again blotted otherwise a fine display in the field by the Pakistanis.
SCOREBOARD
PAKISTAN:
Imran Nazir lbw b Pathan 1
Yasir Hameed b Kumble 31
Shoaib Malik c Kaif b Tendulkar 143
Inzamamul Haq c Yuvraj b Harbhajan 34
Yousuf Youhana c Kaif b Kumble 29
Abdul Razzaq b Pathan 22
Moin Khan c Harbhajan 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 wkts, 50 overs) 300
FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-105, 3-171, 4-234, 5-277, 6-286, 7-296, 8-300, 9-300.
FALL OF WKTS: 1-17, 2-79, 3-94, 4-139, 5-151, 6-214, 7-223, 8-233.
DID NOT BAT: A. Nehra.
BOWLING: Shoaib Akhtar 10-0-51-1 (2nb, 3w); Shabbir Ahmed 10-0-38-2 (6nb, 2w); Mohammad Sami 10-0-57-1 (1nb, 1w); Abdul Razzaq 10-2-38-1 (4nb, 1w); Shoaib Malik 10-0-42-2 (3w).
RESULT: Pakistan won by 59 runs.
UMPIRES: B.F. Bowden (New Zealand) and B. Doctrove (West Indies).
TV UMPIRE: M.G. Silva (Sri Lanka).
MATCH REFEREE: M.J. Procter (South Africa).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shoaib Malik.
POINTS TABLE
Points table after the Asia Cup Super League match between India and Pakistan on Sunday (tabulated under played, won, lost, points, net run-rate):
