November 09, 2007	Friday	Shawwal 27, 1428

MOHALI (India), Nov 8: Younis Khan’s superb century and Misbah-ul-Haq’s timely support led Pakistan to a magnificent four-wicket victory against India on the penultimate delivery in an action-packed second One-day International on Thursday.

Chasing India’s challenging score of 321 for nine from 50 overs, Pakistan reached the winning target of 322 for the loss of six wickets with one ball to spare after Younis’s commanding 117 gave the tourists impetus.Pakistan’s win levelled the five-match series 1-1. India had clinched a five-wicket triumph in the opening one-dayer on Monday at Guwahati.

Younis, who was also named man-of-the-match, struck two sixes and nine boundaries while facing 110 deliveries, playing the dominant role in the match-turning partnership of 102 for the fifth wicket with Misbah who posted a 44-ball 49.

Pakistan had slipped to 105 for three when Younis steadied the innings through a 69-run partnership for the fourth wicket with skipper Shoaib Malik (35). Salman Butt’s 37 was the only other noteworthy contribution from a top-order batsman.

Shahid Afridi hit an unbeaten cameo of 29 off 14 deliveries to steer Pakistan home after Younis and Misbah fell in quick succession when victory was in striking range.

Earlier in the day, India’s star batsman, Sachin Tendulkar fell one run short of posting his 42nd century in One-day Internationals.

Limited-overs cricket’s highest century-maker, Tendulkar was seeking to end his recent jinx of getting out in the 90s when he edged paceman Umar Gul to wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal who dived to his right to claim a marvellous catch.

This was the fifth time Tendulkar had been dismissed in the 90s during the past five months, three of those dismissals being on 99.

Tendulkar gave a glimpse of his dominant strokes during his brisk 173-run partnership for the second wicket with left-hander Gautam Gambhir (57) before posting his third dismissal on 99 since June. The previous two occasions he missed a century by one run this season were against South Africa at Belfast and then versus England at Bristol. The last of 34-year-old Tendulkar’s 41 one-day hundreds came in January against the West Indies.

India lost opener Saurav Ganguly cheaply for six, playing a delivery from Shoaib Akhtar on to his stumps, before Gambhir joined Tendulkar to dominate the Pakistan attack.

Tendulkar struck 14 boundaries and one six during his 91-ball knock, while Gambhir’s 68-ball knock contained seven hits to the fence.

Umar (2-56) removed Gambhir soon after dismissing Tendulkar and left-arm pacer, but Virender Sehwag (25) and Yuvraj Singh (34) maintained the brisk scoring rate until Sehwag fell to leg-spinner Afridi.

Left-arm paceman Sohail Tanvir (2-56) bowled Pakistan back in the contest by snaring Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa (zero) in the same over.

Shoaib Akhtar (3-42) sent back Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan in his second spell, but tail-ender Harbhajan Singh hit an unbeaten 38 that contained two sixes.

Scoreboard
INDIA:
S.R. Tendulkar c Kamran b Umar Gul	99
S.C. Ganguly b Shoaib Akhtar	6
G. Gambhir c Afridi b Umar Gul	57
V. Sehwag b Afridi	25
Yuvraj Singh c Umar Gul b Sohail	34
M.S. Dhoni c Kamran b Shoaib Akhtar	4
R.V. Uthappa lbw b Sohail	0
Irfan Pathan c Yousuf b Shoaib Akhtar	7
Harbhajan Singh not out	38
Zaheer Khan run out	9
R.P. Singh not out	1
EXTRAS (LB-7, W-31, NB-3)	41
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs)	321
FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-179, 3-186, 4-239, 5-259, 6-260, 7-266, 8-278, 9-311.
BOWLING: Shoaib Akhtar 10-1-42-3 (1nb, 7w); Umar Gul 10-2-56-2 (4w); Sohail Tanvir 10-0-56-2 (1nb, 3w); Rao Iftikhar 7-0-64-0 (3w); Shoaib Malik 3-0-31-0 (1nb, 1w); Shahid Afridi 10-0-65-1 (4w).
PAKISTAN:
Salman Butt b Pathan	37
Kamran Akmal c Yuvraj b R.P. Singh	13
Younis Khan b Zaheer	117
M. Yousuf st Dhoni b Harbhajan	12
Shoaib Malik c Pathan b Harbhajan	25
Misbah-ul-Haq b R.P. Singh	49
Shahid Afridi not out	29
Sohail Tanvir not out	14
EXTRAS (LB-9, W-16, NB-1)	26
TOTAL (for six wkts, 49.5 overs)	322
FALL OF WKTS: 1-38, 2-81, 3-105, 4-174, 5-276, 6-283.
DID NOT BAT: Shoaib Akhtar, Rao Iftikhar, Umar Gul.
BOWLING: Zaheer Khan 10-0-70-1 (3w); R.P. Singh 10-0-59-2 (1nb, 6w); Irfan Pathan 9.5-0-53-1 (3w); Ganguly 9-0-55-0 (2w); Harbhajan Singh 10-0-65-2 (2w); Tendulkar 1-0-11-0.
RESULT: Pakistan won by four wickets.
UMPIRES: S.L. Shastri (India) and I.J. Gould (England).
TV UMPIRE: A.M. Saheba (India).
MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Younis Khan.
FIRST MATCH: Guwahati, India won by five wickets.
THIRD MATCH: Kanpur, Nov 11.
FOURTH MATCH: Gwalior (D/N), Nov 15.
FIFTH MATCH: Jaipur (D/N), Nov 18.—Agencies