JAMSHEDPUR (India), April 9: Rana Navedul Hasan produced his career-best bowling figures in limited-overs international cricket and young Salman Butt stroked a magnificent century as Pakistan crushed India by 106 runs in the third ODI on Saturday to revive their hopes in the six-match series.
Pakistan, having the first use of the pitch for the first time in the series, amassed 319 for nine before bowled out India for 213 with Naved grabbing a superb six for 27 to put new life into the series which now stands 2-1 in the favour of the hosts.
The key wicket as India began chasing 320, Naved said afterwards, was that of Virender Sehwag, who until he was caught cutting at point in the second over, had exercised a brutal tyranny over Pakistan on this tour.
Thereafter, Naved varied his length with precision and his pace with subtlety; M.S. Dhoni’s ominous start was cut short by a rapid bouncer, skipper Saurav Ganguly’s current batting insecurities were exploited with an impeccably angled ball as he edged to second slip and Yuvraj Singh’s tentativeness was defeated, caught behind, by a swinging delivery.
Complemented by the skiddy pace of Mohammad Sami, India were reduced to 82-6 by the end of the 17th over and the target all but unreachable. Sami overcame a nervy first over to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar — his 100th ODI wicket — in the third over of the innings, with a near-perfect delivery, giving Younis Khan, the first of his four catches in the match.
And just when Rahul Dravid was building momentum, Sami beat him for pace with a short ball that ballooned up to Younis.
As the two opening bowlers were rested, the Indian tail wagged resiliently. Irfan Pathan made up for a disastrous day with the ball — he was taken out of the attack for bowling two beamers — with a feisty maiden half-century.
His 64 included four sixes, one of which off Danish Kaneira, went out of the stadium. But by then, as Zaheer Khan joined in some tail-end slogging, the match was drifting to its predictable conclusion. Aptly, Naved came back to polish off the tail, dismissing Irfan and cleaning up Ashish Nehra’s stumps with an inswinging yorker.
Earlier, Salman’s second ODI century — both scored against India — had given Pakistan’s bowlers enough runs to play with. With Shoaib Malik, he overcame the loss of Shahid Afridi in the sixth over.
The pair put on 145 runs for the second wicket and gradually provided the innings with its thrust. Salman was fluid throughout, peppering the covers and point with wristy drives and slashes reminiscent of Saeed Anwar.
As he went past fifty, he became more aggressive, flat-batting Irfan over his head in the 31st over and then deflecting Harbhajan Singh through slips for four a few overs later.
He offered a sharp chance to Yuvraj at point when on 79, but otherwise played flawlessly to bring his 100 up of 114 balls in the 40th over.
Shoaib, after a nervy start, settled down to make an assured 75, full of hard running and eventually harder hitting, twice clearing the ropes.
Yousuf Youhana ensured their platform was built on, as he contributed a delightfully improvised 31-ball cameo. After having caused the farcical run-out of Salman for 101, he compensated, reverse-sweeping and cutting his way to 43.
A lacklustre Indian bowling performance, exemplified by Irfan, was staring at a 350-plus target when Pakistan was 289-4 in the 45th over. But good bowling at the death by Zaheer and Nehra restricted them to 319.
Scoreboard for PAKISTAN:
Salman Butt run out
101
Shahid Afridi c Dravid b Nehra
17
Shoaib Malik c Tendulkar b Sehwag 75
Inzamamul Haq c Pathan b Nehra
23
Yousuf Youhana c Dravid b Harbhajan 43
Abdul Razzaq st Dhoni b Yuvraj
18
Kamran Akmal not out
14
Younis Khan c Dravid b Zaheer
9
Mohammad Sami run out
6
Rana Navedul Hasan c sub b Nehra
0
Danish Kaneria not out
0
EXTRAS (LB-6, W-5, NB-2)
13
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs)
319
FALL OF WKTS: 1-31, 2-176, 3-219, 4-239, 5-287,
6-291, 7-308, 8-316, 9-317.
FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-11, 3-20, 4-54, 5-66, 6-82, 7-143, 8-152, 9-204.
BOWLING: Mohammad Sami 8-1-41-2 (1nb, 2w); Rana Navedul Hasan 8.4-1-27-6 (1w); Abdul Razzaq 6-0-35-0; Danish Kaneria 10-0-45-1; Shoaib Malik 7-0-42-1 (3nb, 2w); Shahid Afridi 2-0-20-0.
RESULT: Pakistan won by 106 runs.
UMPIRES: K. Hariharan (India) and B.F. Bowden (New Zealand). TV UMPIRE: A.V. Jayaprakash (India). MATCH REFEREE: B.C. Broad (England).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH:
Rana Navedul Hasan. NEXT MATCH: At Ahmedabad on Tuesday (April 12).
JAMSHEDPUR (India), April 9: Rana Navedul Hasan produced his career-best bowling figures in limited-overs international cricket and young Salman Butt stroked a magnificent century as Pakistan crushed India by 106 runs in the third ODI on Saturday to revive their hopes in the six-match series.