Jun 26 2008
India beat Pak by 6 wickets for historic Asia Cup win!
India won its second Asia Cup beating Pakistan today after a gap of 20 long years, a first since 1988. Sehwag contributed this grand success with his wonderful inning at a score of 119 runs off just 95 at the National Stadium in Karachi.
Pakistan set a target of 300 runs against India after elected to bat first in Karachi at a loss of four wickets. Pakistan opener Shoaib Malik, who gave a magnificent century, has to go back to pavilion while playing after getting troubled with his cramps and he left the ground disappointed. He made 125 runs out off 119 including 16 fours and 1 six.
Pakistan was very slow at start until Shoaib had given superb shots one by one with a strong partnership with Younis who made 59 runs to achieve a respectable score for the team.
The second opener butt only scored 35 runs out off 64. Mohammad Yousuf was run-out due to a misunderstanding on the pitch for a score of 30 runs in just 20 balls. The home team had managed to amass a good score of 261 as Shahid Afridi came in to bat in the final five overs with Misbah-ul-Haq to support him.
Both, India and Pakistan were tough competitors for the Asia Cup. Indian team had made two changes for today’s match. Manpreet Goni and Robin Uthappa are swapped by Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma.
Virendra Sehwag was the hero of the match who scored 119 runs out off only 95 balls including 12 boundaries and 5 sixes. Suresh Raina also given a magnificant score of 84 runs out off 69 balls. The duo hit the ball one after another and acheived a 150 mark quickly.
After Sehwag, M S Dhoni came with his bat to crease with Yuvraj Singh. Dhoni who remain on ground till the target achieved, had scored 26 runs out off 30 balls while Yuvraj scored 48 runs in 47 hits.
India crossed the target within 42.1 overs and won the match by 6 wickets. Suresh Raina was declared the Man of the match.
