Victory Indian opener Virender Sehwag with his hard-hitting, scattered the fielders and lambasted the Pakistani attack scoring 119 off 95 balls (9*4,5*6) as India marched to the semifinal league high on confidence. Suresh Raina followed his hundred against
Hong Kong with a 69-ball 84 that was laden with shots of the highest quality. Sehwag and Raina added 198 runs for the 2nd wicket that paved the way for India’s victory over
Pakistan. They both played with aggression and squeezed the confidence and hope out of the Pakistani bowlers.
Sehwag Sehwag’s ton overshadowed Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik’s knock of 125 runs. Malik had opened with Salman Butt retired hurt with cramps in the 40th over. Pakistani team had posted a strong total of 299 for four to win the match and
India replied in a befitting manner by strong opening. Gambhir fell early for 9 when Misbah-ul-Haq pulled off an athletic catch at gully before Pakistani bowlers faced the onslaught of Sehwag and in-form Suresh Raina. None of the Pakistani bowlers could stop the flurry of boundaries. It was all Indian flags all over.
Raina It was a marvelous cricket by Sehwag and Raina that created the ground for crushing defeat for
Pakistan. Playing under lights Sehwag savaged the attack scoring his ninth hundred. It was his first one-day hundred for
India since the 2007 world cup match against
Bermuda. Since then he could not retain his form and had to go through the agony of getting omitted from the team. Sehwag was slow to begin with, allowing Raina to take the driving seat. Raina picked the line and length early and with his perfect timing played some breathtaking strokes. The control and disdain in some of his shots angered Iftikhar who let loose a volley of words. He was declared man of the match.
Record Indians took the sweet revenge for the defeat in the hands of Pakistan in the Kitply tri-series final in
Dhaka. Sehwag and Raina prepared the ground for win and rest of the formalities was completed by Yuvraj and skipper Dhoni.
India won with six wickets in hand and with 7.5 overs to spare. It was the day of Sehwag and Raina who made a record of adding 198 runs for the 2
nd wicket for Asia Cup breaking the previous best of 154 between Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly against
Bangladesh in 2004.Trually they taught some cricket to the Pakistanis.
