Triangular Series

[Nadeem]

Pakistan crush Bangladesh by 70 runs


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MIRPUR, DHAKA: Pakistan easily outclassed Bangladesh by 70 runs in the rain-curtailed opening match of the triangular series here on Sunday at the Sher-e-Bangal National Stadium.

Chasing 234 runs to win the match at their home ground, Bangladesh were restricted at 163 runs for the loss of eight wickets in the allotted 40 overs with a fighting unbeaten knock of 56 runs by their captain Mohammad Ashraful.

Other main scorers were opener Tamim Iqbal (29) and tail-ender Abdul Razzak (26 not out) while six players could not enter into double-figures and three of them were dismissed for nought.

Spinners Shahid Afridi and Wahab Riaz claimed three wickets each for 19 and 22, respectively while pacer Umar Gul tool two for 28.

Earlier, Ashraful won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first after the match was reduced to 40 overs-a-side due to rain.

Pakistan were all out for 233 runs in 39.4 overs after openers Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal gave Pakistan a solid start of 75 runs and later Butt and Mohammad Yousuf added 65 runs for the third wicket partnership.

Salman Butt made 70 runs with ten fours and Yousuf scored 59 with seven fours but after then no batsman could make any significant score except Misbah-ul-Haq, who blasted 39 off 22 balls with three fours and two sixes, and then the collapse began.

The last five wickets fell for just six runs as Bangladeshi pacer Aloke Kapali and slow left-arm bowler Abdul Razzak captured three wickets each for 49 and 35 runs, respectively, and Mashrafe Mortaza claimed two for 36.

Dolar Mahmud made his international debut for Bangladesh.

Teams:
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Shahriar Nafees, Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Raqibul Hasan, Alok Kapali, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Mashrafe Mortaza, Dolar Mahmud, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain.

Pakistan: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik (captain), Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul.

[Nadeem]

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DHAKA: Pakistan tasted a humiliating defeat when India won their first One-day International of the tri-nation cricket series by a convincing margin of 140 runs here Tuesday at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.

Chasing a difficult target of 331 runs, Pakistan could score only 190 runs off 35.4 overs.

From the very beginning, they were in deep trouble losing three early wickets for only 26 runs on board.

However, opener Kamran Akmal (38) and Misbah-ul-Haq (24) made some recovery by adding 55 valuable runs for the fourth wicket but both were dismissed within a space of 13 runs.

Then, Shahid Afridi (23) and captain Shoaib Malik made 44 runs but after Afridi wickets began falling with regular intervals.

However, Malik played a responsible innings and top-scored with 53 runs - the only fifty of Pakistan innings.

Earlier, India captain Mahinder Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first. His decision proved right as his batsmen hammered a mammoth total of 330 runs for eight wickets in the allotted 50 overs.

Openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir played in Twenty20 style to set an opening stand of 155 runs off 21.3 overs.

However, they could not break the India’s record of the highest opening partnership of 159 against Pakistan set by Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar at Dhaka in1997-98.

Sehwag smashed 89 off 76 balls with 13 fours and one six while Gambhir made 62 off the same number of balls with six boundaries.

Later, Yuvraj Singh hit a 54-ball 55 with three sixes and three fours.

Fast-medium bowler Umer Gul captured three wickets while spinners Shahid Afridi and Wahab Riaz claimed two wickets each and Suhail Tanvir took one wicket.

All-rounder Yusuf Pathan made his debut for India.

The next match will be played between India and hosts Bangladesh on Thursday while
Pakistan already beat Bangladesh by 70 runs in the opening match on Sunday.

[Nadeem]

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DHAKA: Opener Gautam Gambhir’s fine hundred helped India to register an easy seven-wicket victory against Bangladesh with 14.5 overs left in the last league match of the Tri-nation series here Thursday at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur.

Now, India with two wins and Pakistan with one will play the final on Saturday as Bangladesh, losing both their matches is out of the triangular series.

Gambhir remained not out on 107, his fifth century in One-day International cricket, and he faced 101 balls hitting 13 fours and one six.

His opening partner Virender Sehwag also playd a brilliant innings of 59 off just 32 balls with seven fours and two sixes.

Both made 59 for the opening wicket partnership. Later, Gambir was involved in 56-run second wicket stand with Rohit Sharma and 75-run third wicket partnership with Yuvraj Singh.

Earlier, a solid knock of 89 from Raqibul Hasan guided Bangladesh to reach 222 in 49.5 overs.

Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful won the toss and decided to bat but both his openers were dismissed for a mere 17 runs.

However, Ashraful and Raqibul took their team to recovery and added 76 valuable runs for the third wicket stand when Ashraful got out on 36.

Later, Raqibul found another good partner in Alok Kapali, who scored 24 off 27 balls. Both made 46 runs for the fifth wicket partnership.

Kapali’s contribution was 20 and later Mahmudullah scored 24. Mashrafe Mortaza hit a 12-ball 13 and struck the only six of the innings.

From India, RP Singh captured three wickets for 46 while Irfan Pathan claimed two for 48. His brother Yousuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar and Pyush Chawla got one wicket each.

India made one change from the squad that beat Pakistan by 140 runs in their first match of the tournament on Tuesday, with pace bowler RP Singh replacing Ishant Sharma.

Bangladesh also made one change from the team which was defeated by Pakistan by 70 runs in the opening match of the tournament on Sunday, with pace bowler Farhad Reza replacing Shahadat Hossain.

[Nadeem]

Pakistan’s exciting win over India to lift Kitply Cup


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MIRPUR, Dhaka: Pakistan lifted the Kitply Cup by defeating India by 25 runs in the sensational day/night final of the triangular series here on Saturday.

Chasing a difficult target of 316 runs, India after a shaky start took up the challenge and never gave up the fight till the last wicket fell when captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was caught at deep mid-off with teen balls remaining.

Dhoni made 64 runs off 59 balls with three fours and two sixes and Yuvraj Singh scored 56 off 59 balls with five fours and one six. Opener Gautam Gambhir also contributed a significant score of 40 runs off 33 balls with four fours and one six.

Other main scorers were Irfan Pathan (28), Yusuf Pathan (25) and Ruhait Sharma (24).

Umar Gul was the most successful bowler from Pakistan as he grabbed four wickets for 57 runs while Shahid Afridi and Iftikhar Anjum claimed two wickets each and Fawad Alam and Suhail Tanvir took one wicket each.

Earlier, a grand second wicket partnership of 205 runs between Salman Butt and Younis Khan helped Pakistan amass a huge score of 315 runs for the loss of only three wickets after captain Shoaib Malik won the toss and elected to bat first.

Both Salman and Younus hammered centuries to take Pakistan to a formidable position against India against whom they were embarrassedly beaten by a record margin of 140 runs on Tuesday at the same venue.

Left-handed opener Salman Butt scored 129 before retiring hurt with cramp. He hit 12 fours and three sixes in his seventh hundred, fifth against India, and also completed 2,000 runs in his 52nd match in ODI cricket.

Younus, after getting ducks in two previous games, displayed magnificent stroke-making to smash 108 runs off 99 balls with three huge sixes and eight fours in his fourth ODI hundred.

After the match ended, Younus Khan was declared the man-of-the-match and Salman Butt won the man-of-the-series award.

Pakistan began their innings cautiously after losing Kamran Akmal (15), and Salman and Younus took the score to 100 in the 24th over but then they opened their arms and played strokes freely as Pakistan reached 200 in the 37th over. They parted before Pakistan reached 300 in the 49th over.
Pakistan plundered 90 runs in the last 10 overs after Butt and Younus set the stage for the final onslaught.
Misbah-ul-Haq also contributed significant 33 runs off 21 balls with four boundaries and one six.

Shahid Afridi (10) and Shoaib Malik (11) were at the crease when Pakistan set India a difficult target of 316 runs on completion of the allotted 50 overs.

Irfan Pathan took two wickets for 59 and Ishant Sharma got one for 57 and Pyush Chawla conceded 85 runs from his 10 wicketless overs, the third-most expensive spell by an Indian in one-day internationals after Javagal Srinath (87) and Thiru Kumaran (86)..

Teams:
India: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain, wk), Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma.

Pakistan: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik (captain), Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Iftikhar Anjum.