Cricket Update: Yusuf Pathan denies a win to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754
Yusuf Pathan Banged a century to hurt the confidence of the New Zealand team badly. The flamboyant right handed batsman not only cruised to a century, he made sure that his team continue moving to a whitewash series win. His efforts with both bat and bowl
were damaging for the New Zealand team which was looking for their first win in ten ODI matches.
The New Zealand openers, Brendan Mcullum and Martin Guptill gave a 62 run stand to their team before Guptill got out in the ninth over scoring 30 runs off just 25 balls. New Zealand reached 70 runs in just ten overs. All of a sudden, Jamie How and Brendan
Mcullam fell and it looked like the team would collapse just like the previous three matches.
Scott Syris and Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 made sure to anchor the innings. They compiled a 79 run partnership and took their team to a good position. Styris then fell after a quick 46 in the 30th over when the total was 170. His wicket brought the in-form James
Franklin to the crease. Franklin was unbeaten in the last match and he carried his form into this match. Ross Taylor got out in the 38th over when the total was 210. Together with the lower middle order, Franklin took the score to a promising 315
in the allotted 50 overs.
Franklin was unfortunate to not complete his century. He remained unbeaten on 98 off just 69 balls. He was well supported by other batsmen who played around him and constructed good partnerships. Three batsmen had got out in the forty’s and were unable to
carry on but Franklin capitalized on the start he got and managed to score some important runs for his team.
For India, the bowlers were expensive and didn’t perform as well as they would have liked to. The pick of the bowlers was Yusuf Pathan, who grabbed three wickets. He was supported by Ashwin and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashish-Nehra-c46293, both took two wickets each. However, the bowlers
were expensive which allowed New Zealand to pass 300 runs in this match.
India started off steadily and they and they had the batsmen to make big runs to chase down the total. After settling in, both the openers started playing their strokes and put the New Zealand team under pressure. In the tenth over, India lost both the in-form
batsmen of the series, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Parthiv-Patel-c2159 constructed a good fifty for his team and took the score over 100.
India again lost a couple of quick wickets when things were looking good for them. At one stage, the Indian team was 108 for the loss of four wickets. Rohit Sharma and Yususf Pathan constructed a good partnership and took the score to 188 before Sharma got
out in the 34th over.
When http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 was 203/5, the rain came down and at that stage; India was 17 runs behind according to the D/L system. Things were looking good for the New Zealand team and had thee rain continued, they would have won the match by 17 runs. The rain stopped after
some time and the teams came back to restart the game.
The momentum was with New Zealand before the rain had come down but Yusuf Pathan proved it to be a one-sided affair after the play resumed. Pathan scored an unbeaten 123 off just 96 balls and guided his team to another victory in the series. He was well
supported by Tiwary and the pair reached the target with seven balls remaining.
For New Zealand, Nathan McCullam was the only bowler who was economical. He took a couple of wickets for just 38 runs. Andy Mckay satrted off well by picking up a couple of wickets in one over but he gave too many unlike Nathan.
The loss would have hurt the confidence of the New Zealand team badly. The team suffered its 10th consecutive loss and after being in a strong position, they had a very good chance of ending the losing streak. They will take some positives from
the match though and look to fight again in the final match of the series to win a match.
India will be pleased with the overall performance of the team. The team is without some key players but they have managed to keep the impressive win record. They will look for a whitewash in the series by winning the final match.
The man-of-the-match was awarded to Yusuf Pathan, who claimed three wickets, took a catch and hammered a magnificent century. This performance may also help him to retain his spot in the World Cup squad.
Tags: