Associated Press

Jamshedpur, April 9

Opener Salman Butt made an aggressive century and paceman Rana Naved-ul-Hasan claimed six-wickets to lead Pakistan to a 106-run victory over India in the third one-dayer.

Left-hander Butt struck 10 boundaries in his 116-ball 101 and shared a rousing 145-run second-wicket stand with Shoaib Malik (75) to boost Pakistan to 319 for nine in 50 overs.

India was bowled out for 213 in 41.4 overs, failing to recover from a torrid start in which it lost Virender Sehwag (2), Sachin Tendulkar (6) and skipper Sourav Ganguly (4) cheaply.

Pace bowler Naved-ul-Hasan ripped through India’s top order to claim his career-best haul of 6-27 in 25 ODIs. The victory saw Pakistan revive its hopes of winning the six-match series, which India leads 2-1.

Batting first after Inzamam won the , Pakistan lost opener Shahid Afridi for 17 before Butt and Malik laid the foundation for a big score. Afridi was caught at slip by Rahul Dravid off left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra.

Malik hit two sixes and seven boundaries from 79 balls before he fell to Sehwag. Inzamam hit a rapid 17-ball 23 but miscued an onside shot against Nehra and was caught by Irfan Pathan at mid-on. Nehra was the pick of India’s attack with a haul of 3-57.

Butt sacrificed his wicket during a mix up with Yousuf Youhana, who ran for a single as Butt watched Indian wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni gather the ball. Youhana hit six fours in his 31-ball 43 before becoming off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s only victim. Abdul Razzaq (18) and Younis Khan (9) fell in trying to accelerate the scoring but Kamran Akmal (14 not out) stayed till the end, despite losing tailenders Mohammad Sami (6) and Naved-ul-Hasan (0) in the final over.

Naved-ul-Hasan had in-form opener Sehwag snapped by Afridi at point. Tendulkar fell in the next over, caught by Younis Khan at second slip off Sami — the first of four catches the Pakistan vice captain took on Saturday. Ganguly’s dismal batting form continued as he edged Naved-ul-Hasan to Younis Khan at second slip and India slipped to 20 for three.

After modest contribution from Dhoni (28), Dravid (28) and Mohammad Kaif (32), all-rounder Pathan (64) posted his maiden half-century in one-dayers to save India the blushes after slipping to 82-6.

SCOREBOARD

Pakistan

S Butt run out 101

S Afridi c Dravid b Nehra 17

S Malik c Tendulkar b Sehwag 75

Inzamam c Pathan b Nehra 23

Y Youhana c Dravid b Harbhajan 43

A Razzaq st Dhoni b Yuvraj 18

K Akmal not out 14

Y Khan c Dravid b Khan 9

M Sami run out 6

R Naved c Mongia b Nehra 0

D Kaneria not out 0

Extras: 13 (6lb, 2nb, 5w)

Total: 319/9 (50 overs)

FoW: 1-31, 2-176, 3-219, 4-239, 5-287, 6-291, 7-308, 8-316, 9-317

India Bowling: I Pathan 8.2-0-67-0, A Nehra 10-0-57-3, Z Khan 10-0-48-1, H Singh 10-0-57-1, S Tendulkar 4-0-25-0, V Sehwag 6-0-49-1, Y Singh 1.4-0-10-1

India

V Sehwag c Afridi b Naved 2

S Tendulkar c Khan b Sami 6

M Dhoni c Akmal b Naved 28

S Ganguly c Khan b Naved 4

R Dravid c Khan b Sami 28

Y Singh c Akmal b Naved 1

M Kaif c Khan b Kaneria 32

I Pathan c Akmal b Naved 64

H Singh b Malik 2

Z Khan not out 27

A Nehra b Naved 3

Extras: 16 (3lb, 5w, 8nb)

Total: 213 (41.4 overs)

FoW: 1-6, 2-11, 3-20, 4-54, 5-66, 6-82, 7-143, 8-152, 9-204

Pakistan Bowling: M Sami 8-1-41-2, R Naved 8.4-1-27-6, A Razzaq 6-0-35-0, D Kaneria 10-0-45-1, S Malik 7-0-42-1, S Afridi 2-0-20-0