KARACHI: Brilliant century by Younus Khan and aggressive captain’s knock by Misbah-ul-Haq steered Pakistan to an eight-wicket exciting victory over the formidable India to keep alive hopes in the Asia Cup here at the National Stadium on Wednesday.

Younus made an unbeaten 123 off 117 balls and Misbah was 70 not out from 62 balls to see Pakistan through a difficult target of 309 runs with 27 balls to spare for the loss of only two wickets. Both were involved in an unbroken third wicket stand of 144 runs.Younus hit 11 fours and one six in his fifth ODI hundred while Misbah struck seven fours, including the winning boundary, and one six.

Credit for this big win also goes to the openers – Salman Butt and Nasir Jamshed, who set a sound foundation with a 65-run stand before Butt was run out on 36. Later, Nasir who was playing for the first time in this tournament, retired hurt at 53.Earlier, batting first after winning the toss, India piled up a huge score of 308 runs for seven wickets in the allotted 50 overs.Captain Mahinder Singh Dhoni top scored with 76, supported by Rohit Sharma (58). Both added 112 runs for the fifth wicket partnership.Openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir provided a solid foundation by making together 88 runs in the opening stand. Sehwag smashed two sixes and six fours in his 49 off 33 balls while Gambhir contributed 35 from 32 balls with four boundaries.

Later, Yuvraj Singh made 37 off 32 balls with four fours and one sixer. During his innings, he completed 6,000 runs in his 210th One-day International.All-rounder Irfan Pathan remained unbeaten on 38, scored off 25 balls after his brother Yusuf was dismissed without scoring.For Pakistan, fast-medium bowler Rao Iftikhar Anjum got three wickets for 51 runs while Abdul Rauf claimed two wickets and Sohail Tanvir and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal took one wicket each.Before the match began, Pakistan suffered a major blow as their captain Shoaib Malik was ruled unfit as he collapsed during a fitness test. Vice-captain Misbah-ul Haq is leading the side in his place.

Pakistan, who need to win the match to stay in the competition, made three changes, also dropping leg-spinning allrounder Mansoor Amjad and paceman Wahab Riaz from the team that played Sri Lanka.Opener Nasir Jamshed and paceman Abdur Rauf were included, as was 30-year-old off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, making his one-day debut.India, who beat Bangladesh on Saturday and have four points, made as many as four changes. They left out Pragyan Ojha, Manpreet Gony, Rudra Pratap Singh and Robin Uthappa.In comes opener Virendar Sehwag, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar — rested for Saturdays match — and Irfan Pathan, who regained full fitness after missing the first three matches due to a side strain. geo tv

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