Pakistan defeat India by 25 runs, lift tri-series crown

Dhaka:The first requirement of chasing a 300-plus score is that at least one, if not two batsmen, come up with big individual scores. This is something that India failed to do, despite several batsmen getting starts, and at the end of the evening, they were left 25 runs too short, chasing 316 runs to win the tri-series.

After Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik had won the toss and decided to bat, Pakistan made steady progress through Butt and Kamran Akmal.

Highlights of the match
1.Short highlights
stay tuned for videos

The combination of a fine spell by Umar Gul (4-57), the lack of big knocks and partnerships, and leaving the chase for too late, proved to be telling as India ended up at 290 all out after 48.2 overs.

Earlier, Pakistan got superb contributions with the bat from Salman Butt and Younis Khan, who were involved in a 205-run stand, which was the backbone of the 315-3 that they got, a score big enough to win the title for them.

Younis scored 108 off 99 deliveries, while Butt took his time to settle down, but made the innings count. He limped off with his score of 129, and left the stage for the other batsmen to set up a huge challenge for India, who were expected to walk away with the tournament.

India were never really on the ball. Neither did they get off to a murderous assault at the top of the innings, losing Virender Sehwag early, nor did the other settled batsmen do enough to chase the total.

Ten years ago, India were in a similar position, chasing 315 to win against Pakistan here. But on that day, two left-handers, Sourav Ganguly and Robin Singh, came up with a century and an 80-plus score to get them home. On Saturday, all the Indian left-handers got off to starts, but didn't stay around long enough.

Gautam Gambhir got a rollicking 40, Yuvraj Singh 56, Suresh Raina 24 and Irfan Pathan 28. They all promised a lot, as did Rohit Sharma (24), Yusuf Pathan (25) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (64), but their combined efforts fell short.

Earlier, Salman Butt and Younis Khan came good for their team when it mattered the most, as they combined to carry Pakistan to a huge 315-3, a daunting task for favourites India..
Your Ad Here
Teams:

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

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