June 28, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 23, 1429

KARACHI, June 27: Pakistan were taught a harsh lesson on Thursday night when India made short work of a challenging target in the vital Group ‘B’ fixture of the Asia Cup here at the National Stadium (also partly reported in Friday’s edition).

Virender Sehwag’s swashbuckling century (119 off 95 balls, 12 fours and five sixes) led a ruthless display from India, who won by six wickets off 42.1 overs with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (26 not out) ending the match with a six — the 12th of the innings — when he effortlessly hoisted Younis Khan over long on.

Remarkably it was India’s first Asia Cup win over old foes in nearly 20 years and their fifth successive at the National Stadium.

The result also meant that India begin the Super Stage in an advantageous position as they carry forward two precious points from this game.

The way India toyed with the bowling, which was missing the injured Umar Gul, indicated the benign nature of the wicket as Sehwag and man-of-the-match Suresh Raina (84 off 69 balls, 10 fours and three sixes) established the highest second-wicket partnership in the tournament history as they put on 198 off only 149 balls, obliterating the previous best of 154 set by Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly against Bangladesh at the SSC Ground, Colombo during the 2004 tournament.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Salman Butt c Raina b Chawla 35

Shoaib Malik retired hurt 125

Younis Khan c Raina b Pathan 59

Mohammad Yousuf run out 30

Misbah-ul-Haq not out 31

Shahid Afridi c Dhoni b R.P. Singh 9

Sohail Tanvir not out 3

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-5) 7

TOTAL (for four wkts, 50 overs) 299

FALL OF WKTS: 1-90, 2-223, 3-261, 4-290.

DID NOT BAT: Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar.

BOWLING: Praveen Kumar 10-0-56-0 (1w); R.P. Singh 10-2-44-1 (1w); I. Sharma 10-0-69-0 (3w); Chawla 7-0-52-1; Pathan 9-0-52-1; Yuvraj Singh 4-0-24-0.

INDIA:

G. Gambhir c Misbah b Rao Iftikhar 9

V. Sehwag c Younis b Afridi 119

S.K. Raina c Fawad b Rao Iftikhar 84

Yuvraj Singh c Salman b Sohail 48

M.S. Dhoni not out 26

R.G. Sharma not out 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-6, W-7, NB-1) 15

TOTAL (for four wkts, 42.1 overs) 301

FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-210, 3-231, 4-294.

DID NOT BAT: Y.K. Pathan, P. Kumar, Piyush Chawla, R.P. Singh, I. Sharma.

BOWLING: Umar Gul 1.2-0-6-0 (1w); Sohail Tanvir 9-0-55-1 (1w); Rao Iftikhar 9.4-0-61-2 (2w); Shahid Afridi 10-0-64-1 (1nb, 2w); Fawad Alam 7-0-64-0 (1w); Salman Butt 1-0-13-0; Younis Khan 4.1-0-31-0.

RESULT: India won by six wickets.

UMPIRES: A.L. Hill (New Zealand) and B.G. Jerling (South Africa).

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

MATCH REFEREE: A.G. Hurst (Australia).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Suresh Raina (India).