Thaindian News

Mirpur (Dhaka), March 18 (IANS) A double century stand between openers Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed propelled Pakistan to a massive 329 for six in 50 overs against India in the fifth match of the Asia Cup at the Shere Bangla National Stadium here Sunday.

Hafeez (105) and Jamshed (112) gave Pakistan a great start with their 224-run stand after skipper Misbah-ul-Haq opted to bat first on a track that offered little assistance to the Indian bowlers.

Having suffered a shocking defeat against Bangladesh, India are in a must win situation and the bowlers did little to help the cause. India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni used eight bowlers with little success. Pacers Praveen Kumar and Ashok Dinda got two wickets each but were expensive.

Hafeez and Jamshed were aggressive from the outset. They found the gaps easily and scored at will. Hafeez smashed nine fours and a six in his 113-ball knock while left-handed Jamshed hit 10 fours and a six during his 104-ball stay.

Both batsman looked at relative ease against the Indian bowling line-up that leaked 293 runs against Bangladesh.

Hafeez was the first to reach his century, third of his career and soon his opening partner also reached his maiden ODI hundred.

The batting Powerplay once again proved to be the game changer. Jamshed in his zeal to score faster was caught at short-third man by Irfan Pathan off off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Hafeez fell in the very next over, trapped plumb in front of the wicket by Dinda. The final Powerplay yielded 38 runs for Pakistan at the loss of two wickets.

Former skipper Younis Khan smashed a quickfire 52 off 34 balls and Pakistan scored 73 runs in the last 10 overs.

The Indian bowling looked spineless. Sachin Tendulkar dropped Jamshed off his own bowling but Suresh Raina took incredible one handed catch to send Younis back, while Virat Kohli took a good catch on the boundary to dismiss Hammad Azam.