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Pak have a
cakewalk against Delhi |
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Scorecard
Pakistanis
hardly faced any challenge against a soft Delhi
bowling attack as they cruised past a moderate
target of 214 with utmost ease. At the Feroz
Shah Kotla in Delhi, the Pakistani top order
found some useful hit in the middle with Salman
Butt stroking his way to 83 before giving
opportunities to others. Pakistanis completed an
impressive 7-wicket win with 7.2 overs to spare
to announce their landing on Indian soil.
Shoaib Malik won a good toss which enabled
his fast bowlers to take advantage of early
moisture content in the wicket which made
life tough for the Delhi batsmen. Virender
Sehwag decided to skip the game as its just two
days gone by since the demise of his father.
Gautam Gambhir led the Delhi team and the
Captain was lbw very early after being set up in
the crease cleverly by Umar Gul. Delhi could
somehow get a stubborn partnership going between
Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan but a surprise
bowling change from Malik in bringing on Younis
Khan pegged them back. Bowling his medium
pacers, Younis picked up two wickets in two
balls to send back Chopra (lbw after making 16
in 42) and Mithun Manhas, cleaned up by an
inswinger. Delhi soon slipped to 46 for 4 with
young Virat Kohli getting himself run out.
Fortunately enough for the large crowd that
had turned out, Delhi could recover to put on
213 for 9. The Delhi Cricket Association was
kind enough to make it a free entry for fans for
this match who came in thousands to watch their
stars. Former India U-19 opener Shikhar Dhawan
got himself 52 from 80 with 3 fours and a six
off a free hit coming in from Shoaib Akhtar. The
innings that made a match for the day was from
all rounder Rajat Bhatia, who ended up with a
good 75 from 107 with 7 fours and a six. The
Pakistani bowling and fielding was quite
impressive. Shoaib looked slightly out of
rhythm, not really running in hard but he did
bowl his 10 full overs. Sohail Tanvir was
perhaps the best bowler on show as he went past
the bat on several occasions in his 10 overs
that didn't produce a wicket.
Pakistanis did lose Kamran Akmal in the first
over itself but that was soon forgotten with the
strokeplay from Imran Nazir and Salman Butt. The
Delhi bowling attack lacked the pace with both
Kunal Lal and Amit Bhandari hardly touching the
120kmph mark! Bhandari, however was economical
with a tight stump to stump line. Imran Nazir
missed out in making a big score, falling to
Bhandari for 34 which came in 22 balls with 6
fours. The rest of the chase belonged to Salman
Butt, who retired hurt after an 84-ball 83 which
was laced with 13 fours and a six. Delhi bowlers
helped the opposition with plenty of lose
deliveries and their friendly pace.
Misbah-ul-Haq just played himself in for the
upcoming matches playing out 93 balls to make
just 39 with the occasional aggressive shot.
Yasir Hameed with a fluent 42-ball 33 finished
the match along with young Fawad Alam in the
43rd over.
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