Pathan’s hundred helps India to take a 4-0 lead in One day series (Part 2)
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, and for them it was a competitive total to manage while batting second. New Zealand innings was crafted by a beautiful 98 from James Franklin, who managed to score runs off every
bowler. The Indian bowling was not up to the mark, as Nehra and Ashwin went for runs in their spells. Zaheer Khan and Parveen Kumar bowled normally, but did not manage any wickets in their spells. Yousaf Pathan was the star with the ball as well, as he managed
to give few runs from his 9 over spell, and he also picked 3 important wickets. For New Zealand, it was the perfect opportunity to manage a victory in the series, as they have not been able to perform well in the series so far. But their good performance was
completely over shadowed by a brilliant hundred from Yousaf Pathan.
Like New Zealand, India managed to have a good start in their innings, as both the openers were able to score boundaries in the first 9 over’s. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623, who has already scored 2 hundreds in the series, again looked in fine
fettle and eased his way to 27 runs of 24 balls. He struck 4 boundaries in his innings of 27, and was looking good to score another hundred. Success came for New Zealand in the 9th over, when Mckay took two wickets in that over. He first dismissed
Gautam Gambhir, when Gambhir gave a catch to Guptill at point. One ball later, he dismissed http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mills-c76321. It turned out to be good over
for the Kiwis, as they managed to pick 2 important wickets in that over. A 35 run partnership developed between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Parthiv-Patel-c2159 and Yuvraj Singh, which helped the Indians to cross the 100 runs mark. Parthiv Patel, who has been included in the side after many
years, looked in a fine touch as he was able to score a steady 53. New Zealand were again successful in getting quick Indian wickets, when Nathan McCullum sent Patel and Yuvraj to the pavilion within 3 over’s. The run rate factor was on the side of the Indians,
as they kept their run rate around 6 runs per over in their innings. An 80 run partnership for the 5th wicket developed between Sharma and Pathan, and it helped the Indians in steadying their innings in the middle. Sharma played well for his 44,
and struck 4 boundaries and one six. Southee was the bowler who got rid of Sharma in the 37th over, when Sharma gave a catch to Vettori at mid off region. It was a good partnership by these two batsmen, as they managed this partnership in 83 balls.
India were 188-5 in the 33rd over, and needed some batsman to stay till the end. This time it was the turn of the explosive Yousaf Pathan, who literally stole the match from the Kiwis. India at that time needed 128
runs from 102 balls, and it was looking tough for the Indians. But Yousaf Pathan reminded every one of his batting skills, when he played a match winning innings of 123 runs. Pathan was brilliant in his approach, and did not play any silly shots. He struck
impressive boundaries in almost every over, and managed to keep the required run rate in check. The feature of Pathan’s innings was the fact that he went after every bowler and hit 7 sixes in all. He was particularly harsh on Kyle Mills, and scored 29 runs
of his bowling from just 13 balls. He hit the New Zealand skipper for 3 sixes, and did not allow him to settle against him. Another important characteristic of his innings was the fact that he hit sixes and boundaries of length balls, and did not get pressurized
from the situation. He struck a number of boundaries on the fine leg position, as the New Zealand bowlers were guilty at times of bowling on his pads. When Pathan was at the crease the required run rate never got out of hands for the Indian. Because of his
excessive hitting, India were placed in a position where they have to get 19 runs from the last three over’s. In the end, India managed to chase the Kiwi total of 315 in the 48th over. Pathan was well supported by Tiwary, who scored 37 runs of 39
balls and helped Pathan in his pursuit of New Zealand’s total. Yousaf Pathan, for his wonderful 123*, was named Man of the match.
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