India Won by 6Wickets

Karachi: Pakistan scored a formidable 299-4 against India in their crucial Group B match of the Asia Cup, riding primarily on a fine century by skipper Shoaib Malik.

"However, one would still get a feeling that they could have scored a bigger total, had Malik not walked out injured at the end of the 39th over.Now Match is in Progress Stay tuned For video

"Malik began slowly, and at one time, he and fellow-opener Salman Butt were struggling against the accurate attack of Praveen Kumar, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma.

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2.Short Highlights

However, for all their dominance, the Indian medium-pacers failed to make any breakthroughs and the openers, after a pretty long and hard-fought innings, gradually tilted the balance in their favour.

The two put on 90 runs before Butt fell to Piyush Chawla, but Malik and Younis Khan then added 133 runs before Malik limped off the ground.

The Pakistanis should have been able to kick on from here and get well past the 300-mark, but their tempo was dented as they lost Younis, Mohd. Yousuf and Shahid Afridi.

Earlier, Malik played the predictable card and opted to bat first.

The contest becomes important as it would decide who tops the group, which may be something that comes in handy in the next phase of the league.

Pakistan went in with the same team that played against Hong Kong, while India made two changes from the side that played the first game.

Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma returned to the squad, while Robin Uthappa and Manpreet Gony sat this one out.

India have a pretty good record at the National Stadium here, having defeated the hosts thrice, but if recent records are anything to go by, Pakistan have the edge, having beaten India in the final of the tri-series in Dhaka.

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

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