Shoaib Malik hits blistering knock in warm-up triumph
Pakistan Times Sports Desk

HYDERABAD (India): Shoaib Malik celebrated his presence in the hometown of his in-laws with a blistering 81 to lead the Pakistanis to a thumping eight wickets win over the India A side here on Wednesday at the Visaka International Stadium in Uppal.

Malik warmed up for the six match One-day International series with his sparkling 78 balls innings that included four sixes and four boundaries to lead his team to victory with four overs to spare.

However, the stadium didn’t fill up as expected by the organisers for this warm-up fixture and the turnout was disappointing although one could blame the hot weather for it and the decision by Pakistan to rest senior players Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana and Mohammad Sami, who had all performed key roles in the just concluded Test series.

But Malik playing in his first match of the tour made the most of the moment and assured for himself a place in the playing eleven for the first One-day International in Cochin on Saturday.

The Pakistani bowlers first had a good workout by restricting the Indian A side to 189 for seven in 45 overs. Then they reached 190 for two in 41 overs with opener Salman Butt, dropped for the last two Tests, contributing a well crafted 70 runs from 124 balls and in 190 minutes with five boundaries.

The Pakistanis played all three of their one-day specialists in the match, which was reduced to 45 overs after a wet outfield delayed the start by over half an hour.

Rao Iftikhar, Shahid Nazir and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, playing his first match after a shoulder injury, all bowled with discipline on a sluggish pitch sharing four wickets.

Rana started the Indian slide by knocking out openers Shikhar Dhawan (8) and Mahendra Dhoni (3) in his first spell to leave the home side reeling on 31 for two and they never recovered from such a poor start although Suresh Raina batted well to top score with 58 from 65 balls with five fours and Indian opener Sridharan Sriram contributed a sedate 38 from 64 balls.

But the Indians were never able to force the pace against the spinners Hafeez, Arshad Khan and Danish Kaneria.

Pakistan skipper Inzamam said it was the perfect preparation for the first one-dayer and showed the boys were in a confident frame of mind. "I think once you win a tight match the players also like to maintain a winning streak and it feels good," he added.●