June 16, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 11, 1429

DHAKA, June 15: Paceman Umar Gul took four wickets as Pakistan avenged their lopsided defeat in the league round with a 25-run victory over India in Saturday’s final of the limited-overs tri-series (also partly reported in Sunday’s edition).

Salman Butt and Younis Khan scored centuries and shared a 205-run second-wicket stand to guide Pakistan to 315 for three and then Umar Gul and his fellow bowlers did the rest, dismissing India for 290 in the penultimate over at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

“Today was our day. The way Younis Khan and Salman Butt [performed], I think that was the turning point,” Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik told reporters.

“On this wicket, if you score 300 runs, its always difficult to chase. We learned from criticism, worked hard and thank god that we have got success today.”

India, who beat Bangladesh in their first match and Pakistan by 140 runs on Thursday, struggled early in the reply after losing opener Virender Sehwag (2) in the second over.

Gautam Gambhir scored 40 before he was caught by substitute fielder Nasir Jamshed of Umar Gul.

Rohit Sharma (24), Yusuf Pathan (25) and Suresh Raina (24) failed to convert starts into a big innings and all-rounder Shahid Afridi ended the innings of both of India’s top scorers.

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit a defiant 64 until he was out in the 48th over, caught by Nasir off Afridi’s bowling. Afridi had earlier dismissed Yuvraj Singh for 56 and returned 2-56 from 9.2 overs.

Umar Gul, who also bowled out Piyush Chawla (2) and trapped Praveen Kumar (5) lbw, finished with 4-57 in nine overs.

“It’s a big victory, a final and that against India,” Umar Gul said. “It was a do or die battle for us.”

Pakistan started positively after winning the toss. Butt made the most of an early reprieve – dropped at short cover in the 11th over – to hit 10 boundaries in his 129 before retiring hurt near the end of the innings.

“It was a perfect team job and it could not have been scripted better,” Salman said. “I won an important game for my country, nothing gets better.”

Younis stroked seven boundaries and three sixes, scoring 108 off 99 balls before he was caught by Sehwag off an Ishant Sharma delivery.

It was a surprising loss for India, who won a recent series in Australia against the World Cup holders and are third in the ODI world rankings.

“Salman and Younis batted brilliantly. They took on the spinners, took risks and pulled it off,” Dhoni said. “I admit I made some mistakes there but one can only learn from all this.”

The 35,000-seat capacity stadium was packed with cricket fans including Fakhruddin Ahmed, head of Bangladesh’s interim government.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Salman Butt retired hurt 129

Kamran Akmal c Dhoni b I. Pathan 15

Younis Khan c Sehwag b I. Sharma 108

Misbah-ul-Haq c R. Sharma b I. Pathan 33

Shahid Afridi not out 10

Shoaib Malik not out 11

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-4, W-2, NB-1) 9

TOTAL (for three wkts, 50 overs) 315

FALL OF WKTS: 1-34, 2-239, 3-293.

DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Yousuf, Fawad Alam, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar.

BOWLING: Praveen Kumar 10-1-37-0; I. Sharma 10-0-57-1 (1nb, 2w); I. Pathan 10-0-59-2; Piyush Chawla 10-0-85-0; Sehwag 3-0-26-0; Y. Pathan 2-0-11-0; Yuvraj Singh 4-0-23-0; Raina 1-0-11-0.

INDIA:

G. Gambhir c sub (Nasir) b Umar Gul 40

V. Sehwag c Malik b Sohail 2

R.L. Sharma c sub (Nasir) b Umar Gul 24

Y.K. Pathan c Younis b Rao Iftikhar 25

Yuvraj Singh c Kamran b Afridi 56

S.K. Raina c Afridi b Fawad 24

M.S. Dhoni c sub (Nasir) b Afridi 64

I.K. Pathan c Malik b Rao Iftikhar 28

Praveen Kumar lbw b Umar Gul 5

Piyush Chawla b Umar Gul 2

I. Sharma not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-7, W-11, NB-2) 20

TOTAL (all out, 48.2 overs) 290

FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-67, 3-79, 4-106, 5-179, 6-187, 7-247, 8-262, 9-284.

BOWLING: Umar Gul 9-0-57-4 (2nb); Sohail Tanvir 10-1-60-1 (3w); Rao Iftikhar 10-0-58-2; Shahid Afridi 9.2-0-56-2 (7w); Shoaib Malik 4-0-28-0; Fawad Alam 6-0-24-1 (1w).

RESULT: Pakistan won by 25 runs.

UMPIRES: Nadir Shah (Bangladesh) and E.A.R. de Silva (Sri Lanka).

TV UMPIRE: A.F.M. Akhtaruddin (Bangladesh).

MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Younis Khan.

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Salman Butt.

—Agencies