Malik & Co. start campaign in style

[howareu]

New Delhi, Nov. 2: The Pakistanis sounded the bugle for the Indian team with a seven-wicket thrashing of the Delhi Ranji side in their sole warm-up match ahead of the five-match one-day series at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Friday. Chasing just 213 runs after an insipid batting performance by the hosts, Salman Butt led the chase at the top of the order with fluent 83 off 84 balls with 13 hits to the fence and one over it, before the middle order batsmen — Yaseer Hameed (43) and Misbah-ul-Haq (39) got the job done with 44 balls to spare. Butt, who was not included in the playing XI in all the five ODIs against South Africa, tore into Delhi’s bowling attack lacking venom. The hosts missed out on the services of their two premier fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Ashish Nehra due to injury and the Pakistan XI batsman ensured that they felt the pinch. Butt retired hurt in the end, but not before he put on 116 for the fourth wicket with Misbah. His impressive array of strokes, particularly in the off-side through the covers, brought the 16,000-strong crowd to their feet, a crowd that seemed to root for the visitors rather than the hosts. Delhi, minus regular captain Virender Sehwag, got off on the wrong foot, with the top four batsmen making their way to the dressing room within the first 13 overs. Pakistan XI captain Shoaib Malik made the right call in electing to field first. The Kotla track is known to assist seamers in the first hour and a half and the Pakistan XI bowlers exploited it to great effect. Umar Gul struck in the second over, dismissing opposition captain Gautam Gambhir for just four runs. All eyes were on the feisty Shoaib Akhtar with the local crowd expecting fireworks. However, he was restrained in his performance, and did not to go all-out even with crowd right behind him. Sohail Tanveer, though, more than made up for his senior’s performance. He had the batsmen in knots and the hosts struggled to nudge the score with him keeping it tight at one end. The surprise package of the day was Younis Khan who came on as the second change bowler and got two wickets in two balls. The Pakistani vice-captain trapped Aakash Chopra and then castled next man-in Mithun Manhas for a first-ball duck with an in-swinger that would made Wasim Akram proud. The way he was getting the ball to nip back in to the right-hander, skipper Shoaib Malik would be tempted to use Younis in the upcoming ODIs a well. Only after the spinners were introduced at both ends in the 24th over, did Delhi open up a bit. Rajat Bhatia and Shikhar Dhawan put on a 91-run fifth-wicket stand to give the total some respectability before the Fawad Alam and Shahid Afridi nipped out the lower order. Pakistan now move to Guwahati, where they play India in the first of the five ODIs on Monday.