Sehwag's ton sails India to the top

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Sehwag's ton sails India to the top

Virender Shewag's brilliant 119 led India to victory at the third Group B match of the Asia Cup 2008, against Pakistan. With six wickets to spare India won the match in just 42.1 overs. Raina was declared the man of the match.

CJ: Shaurya Arya

Fri, Jun 27, 2008 13:06:37 IST

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INDIA SUCCEEDED in an encounter against Pakistan in the third Group B game of the Asia Cup 2008. Chasing what was supposedly a formidable total of 299 for four put up by Pakistan did not turn out to be so, as the Indian batting line up comprehensively won the match in 42.1 overs with six wickets to spare. The Indian chase witnessed some spectacular batting with credits to Virender Sehwag’s brilliant 119, partnered with Suresh Raina’s equally explosive knock of 84.

Opting to bat first, skipper Shoaib Malik engineered his drives throughout the park posting a daunting score of 125. He shared 90 runs for the opening partnership with Salman Butt (35) and 133 runs with Younis Khan (59). It was Malik’s third century against India, coming in 104 balls with 13 fours and a six.

Salman Butt was caught by Suresh Raina in the mid wicket region off the leg spinner Piyush Chawla in an attempt to pull him away. Younis Khan was dismissed by Yousuf Pathan after scoring a half century of 59 runs, also caught by Suresh Raina.

Mohammad Yusuf was run out in the 46th over after he managed to score 30 runs. Misbah-ul-Haq remained unbeaten with 31 runs to his name off 26 balls, while Malik went off the field retired hurt. Shahid Afridi fell in the penultimate over for 9 runs, and Sohail Tanvir (3) remained not out.

Pakistan managed to pile up 80 runs off the last 10 overs, with India bagging three wickets.

In the second innings with the skipper still off the field, the acting captain Misbah-ul-Haq pulled off a sensational catch to get rid of Gautam Gambhir for a score of 9. Gambhir’s wicket followed immediately after the primary pace weapon for Pakistan, Umar Gul suffered a side strain and had to leave the field, bowling just 1.2 overs. Rao Iftikhar continued Umar Gul’s spell.

The second wicket partnership of 198 runs between Sehwag and Raina came of just 149 balls, surpassing the previous best recorded of 154 recorded by Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

Raina was caught by Fawad Alam after striking 10 fours and three sixes. It was Rao Iftikhar’s second wicket. Sehwag was the next to follow with a 95 ball innings to his name, before Younis Khan caught him at long on off Shahid Afridi’s bowling. However, the loss of three top order batsmen did not slow the run rate as Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni put on a partnership of 63 runs. Yuvraj was the last Indian batsman to be dismissed for a score of 48 off 47 balls, smashing one four and three sixes. After Yuvraj’s wicket, India was left with just six runs to be scored off 44 balls.

Rohit Sharma could not contribute much, as MS Dhoni finished the innings with a six over long on.

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