Yusuf Pathan is a satisfied man after he took India to an emphatic five wicket win over New Zealand through a memorable unbeaten ton which was the first of his ODI career.
The right-hander was in the form of his life smashing 7 sixes and 7 fours on his way to an unbeaten 123 which sealed the fate for the helpless tourists who lost their fourth successive match of the five match series, to face the prospects of a whitewash.
It has been a disappointing run for them ever since they went down 4-0 to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 in a ODI series away from home.
At the Chinnaswamy stadium, the right-hander came to bat with his team in a real spot of bother as they attempted to hunt down the Black Caps total of 315 in the allotted 50 overs.
He stated that his captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 backed him during the rain break that took the players off the field for a short while. He was asked to make the most of the power play fielding restrictions that they had planned to use upon resumption of play.
The score was a precarious 108 for 4 with 30.3 overs remaining. "I had enough overs in hand, and I sensed an opportunity to play a long innings," he said. With Rohit [Sharma] and Saurabh [Tiwary], we rotated the strike well and kept in touch with the run-rate.
At no stage did I feel we were going to lose the game."
"At the rain break, Gautam [Gambhir] told me to utilise the Power play to good effect. He advised me not to throw my wicket away, and said if I stayed in the middle until the end, I would win the match for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. I am glad I proved him
right."
His innings was brutal at times with the ball sailing out of the stadium with one of his hits that brought the overjoyed spectators to their toes.
He was circumspect in between yet maintained an astonishing strike rate as he and his partner Saurabh Tiwary made the most of some poor http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 bowling during the death overs of the innings.
In all, his unbeaten 123 came from just 96 balls, after doing the damage early on; he eased the pace in the last stages of the chase.
He added that he made the choice deliberately knowing well that the team was in control of the required rate and only had to score in singles and doubles once the rate was brought in control courtesy a huge over off Kyle http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mills-c76321.
Meanwhile the hosts are hoping to continue in the same vein and deliver the goods in the last match of the series; their build up to the World Cup has been excellent with the back-up players doing a great job in the limited opportunities that have come their
way.
At this rate the hosts are one of the hot favourites for the World Cup that they have won only once in their history, in 1983 against the mighty http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760.
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