India v Pakistan, final, Kitply Cup, Mirpur
Yuvraj keeps India in the battle
June 14, 2008
25 overs India 153 for 4 (Yuvraj 41*, Raina 13*) need another 163 runs to beat Pakistan 315 for 3 (Butt 129, Younis 108)
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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Pakistan's three seamers - the only specialist bowlers in the XI - struck regular blows to stifle the chase but India's batsmen ensured they didn't fall too far behind the asking-rate. Gautam Gambhir made use of the field restrictions to smash a 33-ball 40 but no batsman carried on in the manner of a Salman Butt or Younis Khan.
India aren't out of the contest yet, not with Yuvraj Singh striking the ball crisply and countering the spinners with efficient sweeps, ranging from the vertical back-drive to the brutal slog-sweep. He dominated the unbeaten 47-run stand with Suresh Raina, which came at 6.26 runs an over, and allowed India, with a deep batting line-up, to stay afloat.
Sohail Tanvir hasn't managed to replicate his IPL success into the 50-over format but he strung together some probing deliveries to lure Virender Sehwag into popping a leading edge to mid-off - one just needed to see the joy on Shoaib Malik's face to see how much that wicket meant to them.
The dismissal, though, didn't seem to fluster Gambhir, who ripped Umar Gul for two successive fours in the next over; the second lashed through covers after he charged down the track like a raging bull. Rohit Sharma picked up the baton, caressing drives with precision, but their 59-run stand was cut short by a Gul bouncer - Sharma's short-arm jab flew to deep-backward square leg, where the substitute, Nasir Jamshed, pulled off the first of two sharp catches.
Gambhir's uppish cut couldn't clear Jamshed at deep backward point but Yusuf Pathan, chewing gum ferociously, threatened to take the game away. He was off the mark with a four off his first ball, slamming one through the covers, and thundered Tanvir down the ground, raising visions of a match-winning cameo. He fell to Iftikhar Anjum - lobbing one to short midwicket - but it was really his discomfort against Gul's cutters that prompted him to play the shot.
50 overs Pakistan 315 for 3 (Butt 129, Younis 108) v India
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In a masterful innings-building effort that was reminiscent of Pakistan's strategy in the early '90s, Salman Butt and Younis Khan paced themselves perfectly to launch them to an imposing 315 for 3 in the Kitply Cup final in Mirpur. Pakistan, who chose to bat, crawled along to 75 for 1 in the first 20 overs but a 205-run stand put them firmly in command.
The pitch wasn't conducive to strokeplay early on but both batsmen bided their time through the Powerplays. The midwicket area was peppered - Younis managed close to half his runs in that region - and neither let go of a chance to glide the ball behind square. India tried eight bowlers but there was little joy to be had once the shine wore off. The blistering 240 they crashed in the last 28 overs could have a big bearing on the outcome.
One needs to go back more than 25 years when a Pakistani second-wicket pair added more than 200 against India. The present duo couldn't match the rate set by Mohsin Khan and Zaheer Abbas, who managed to add 205 in just 27 overs, but allowed their side to brush off the thumping 140-run loss in the previous game.
India's bowlers began impressively - conceding just extras in the first 25 overs, that too leg byes - but fell apart in the face of the onslaught. Eight bowlers were tried but Pakistan made the most of the lack of a fifth specialist, going after the part-time spinners even though the field was spread. Piyush Chawla came into this game on the back of a morale-boosting four-wicket haul but ended up having a harrowing time, finishing with the most expensive spell by an Indian spinner in an ODI.
None of this appeared possible in the early stages, when Butt and Kamran Akmal struggled with the ball not coming on. Praveen Kumar was at his niggardly best and should nearly dismissed Butt on 19 but Rohit Sharma, who had pulled off a fine catch off Butt in the earlier game, couldn't latch on to a tough low chance at short cover.
Akmal's dismissal, edging an away-cutter from Irfan Pathan, fired India up but little did they know that it was the start of their problems. Younis raced off the blocks with a glorious first-ball cover-drive and had a good laugh about it too - raising his bat to the dressing-room and chuckling over getting off the mark after two successive ducks. He nudged to 19 off 36 balls before lofting Virender Sehwag straight over his head for the first six of the game. Little could stop him after that.
If Younis nudged and glided, Butt punched and slapped. He creamed some delectable cover-drives and showed the capacity to loft the spinners over wide long-on. The wide ones were slashed towards third man and he showed the ability to rotate the strike with ease. They made it a point to get a four in each over, mostly early on, and scurry singles once the pressure was released. A flick to midwicket allowed Butt to get his fifth century against India, and seventh overall, before he celebrated with a splendid slog sweep off Chawla, one that soared over midwicket.
Misbah-ul-Haq's 21-ball 33 pushed the total even further but Pakistan might have been a bit disappointed with Shahid Afridi's inability to put away the slower balls. Shoaib Malik's two fours at the end pushed the total to 315 and left India to achieve the highest chase against Pakistan - equalling the 316 they managed in a Dhaka thriller ten years ago.
Appeals of the day
Shahid Afridi's delivery beat Yuvraj Singh's attempted sweep and struck him low on the pad in front of the stumps. He began the appeal confidently and was incredulous when he realised Nadir Shah's finger wasn't going up. That ball may have pitched outside leg but it was a tight call. A couple of deliveries later, Afridi struck Yusuf Pathan on the pad as he pushed forward; once again he roared an appeal and looked dumbfounded as Shah gave it as runs. In his next over, Afridi hit Suresh Raina plumb in front after he missed an attempted sweep. This time the ball had pitched in line but Shah remained unmoved.
Akmal's antics
Pakistan began their innings slowly and, in the tenth over, Kamran Akmal decided to improvise against Irfan Pathan. He walked across his stumps and created the line to hoist a short ball to the midwicket boundary. When he attempted to do it again the next delivery, Irfan altered his length and bowled it full. Akmal played across the line and the outside edge was held by Dhoni.
Younis finds his mojo
Younis Khan's tournament went from bad in the first match - out without facing a ball - to worse in the second - two dropped catches and a first-ball duck. Walking out to bat after Pakistan had made a quiet start in the final, Younis punched his first ball, off Irfan, elegantly through extra cover for four. He raised his bat to the crowd in good-humoured celebration of his first runs of the tournament. He would celebrate again, many overs later, on reaching a century which spurred Pakistan to a formidable total.
Caught the other day, dropped today
Rohit Sharma, fielding at a short cover point, had pulled off a sharp one-handed catch low to his left to dismiss Salman Butt in the league match against Pakistan. He was stationed in the same position in the final and once again Butt cut the ball low but this time to Rohit's right. He attempted it with one hand but was off balance and couldn't hold on.
A disciplined display
India did not concede a single extra in the first 16 overs of Pakistan's innings. The first leg bye came in the 17th over when Ishant Sharma hit Younis on the pad. Ishant also bowled the first wide, at the start of the 36th over, when he sprayed it outside Butt's off stump.
c Pathan b Pathan
It nearly happened in the 41st over when Younis skied Irfan towards long-on. Yusuf Pathan came sprinting in off the boundary and dived forward, barely getting his hands under the ball before it spilled out.
Substitute with safe hands
Nasir Jamshed hasn't had much to do in the Kitply Cup but today he had to field after Butt cramped up towards the end of his innings. Stationed at deep-backward square leg, Jamshed watched Rohit play a half-chip half-pull and as the top edge swirled towards him, he settled under it comfortably and took the catch to end India's promising second-wicket partnership. Minutes later, now at deep point for the left-hand Gambhir, Jamshed judged a skied cut to perfection to dismiss India's in-form batsman. He also pouched the title-clinching catch at the same position.
The doctor joins in
Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of the PCB, had written a letter to the Pakistan team blasting their performance during the league-match defeat against India. He flew into Dhaka and had meetings with the team ahead of the final. Whether it had an effect or not, Pakistan's batsmen flourished and Ashraf was seen sitting with the players towards the final overs of Pakistan's innings, applauding the boundaries.
| ODI no. 2707 |  | Kitply Cup - Final India v Pakistan | | 2008 season |
| Played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur (neutral venue), on 14 June 2008 - day/night (50-over match) Result Pakistan won by 25 runs |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Pakistan innings (50 overs maximum) | R | M | B | 4s | 6s | SR | ||
| Salman Butt | retired hurt | 129 | 200 | 136 | 12 | 3 | 94.85 | ||
 | Kamran Akmal | c Dhoni b IK Pathan | 15 | 38 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 57.69 | |
| Younis Khan | c Sehwag b I Sharma | 108 | 140 | 99 | 8 | 3 | 109.09 | ||
| Misbah-ul-Haq | c RG Sharma b IK Pathan | 33 | 27 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 157.14 | ||
| Shahid Afridi | not out | 10 | 18 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 90.90 | ||
 | Shoaib Malik | not out | 11 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 137.50 | |
| Extras | (b 2, lb 4, w 2, nb 1) | 9 | |||||||
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| Total | (3 wickets; 50 overs) | 315 | (6.30 runs per over) | ||||||
| Did not bat Mohammad Yousuf, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Iftikhar Anjum, Fawad Alam |
| Fall of wickets1-34 (Kamran Akmal, 9.3 ov), 2-239 (Younis Khan, 41.6 ov), 2-282* (Salman Butt, retired not out, 45.6 ov), 3-293 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 47.3 ov) |
| | | | | | | |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
| P Kumar | 10 | 1 | 37 | 0 | 3.70 | ||
| I Sharma | 10 | 0 | 57 | 1 | 5.70 | (1nb, 2w) | |
| IK Pathan | 10 | 0 | 59 | 2 | 5.90 | ||
| PP Chawla | 10 | 0 | 85 | 0 | 8.50 | ||
| V Sehwag | 3 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 8.66 | ||
| YK Pathan | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 5.50 | ||
| Yuvraj Singh | 4 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 5.75 | ||
| SK Raina | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 11.00 |
| | | | | | | | | |
| India innings (target: 316 runs from 50 overs) | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |||
| G Gambhir | c sub (Nasir Jamshed) b Umar Gul | 40 | 33 | 4 | 1 | 121.21 | |||
| V Sehwag | c Shoaib Malik b Sohail Tanvir | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 | |||
| RG Sharma | c sub (Nasir Jamshed) b Umar Gul | 24 | 27 | 5 | 0 | 88.88 | |||
| YK Pathan | c Younis Khan b Iftikhar Anjum | 25 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 100.00 | |||
| Yuvraj Singh | c Kamran Akmal b Shahid Afridi | 56 | 59 | 5 | 1 | 94.91 | |||
| SK Raina | c Shahid Afridi b Fawad Alam | 24 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 75.00 | |||
| MS Dhoni | c sub (Nasir Jamshed) b Shahid Afridi | 64 | 59 | 3 | 2 | 108.47 | ||
| IK Pathan | c Shoaib Malik b Iftikhar Anjum | 28 | 35 | 1 | 1 | 80.00 | |||
| P Kumar | lbw b Umar Gul | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 62.50 | |||
| PP Chawla | b Umar Gul | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 40.00 | |||
| I Sharma | not out | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| Extras | (lb 7, w 11, nb 2) | 20 | |||||||
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| Total | (all out; 48.2 overs) | 290 | (6.00 runs per over) | ||||||
| | | | | | | |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
| Umar Gul | 9 | 0 | 57 | 4 | 6.33 | (2nb) | |
| Sohail Tanvir | 10 | 1 | 60 | 1 | 6.00 | (2w) | |
| Iftikhar Anjum | 10 | 0 | 58 | 2 | 5.80 | ||
| Shahid Afridi | 9.2 | 0 | 56 | 2 | 6.00 | (3w) | |
| Shoaib Malik | 4 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 7.00 | ||
| Fawad Alam | 6 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 4.00 | (1w) |
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Toss Pakistan, who chose to bat first
Series Pakistan won the 2008 Kitply Cup
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