| Rediff India Abroad Home | All the sections | |
Pakistan beat SA to level ODI series October 20, 2007 21:17 IST Seamers Rao Iftikhar and Umar Gul shared six wickets and Mohammad Yousuf [Images] hammered a century to guide Pakistan to a 25-run victory over South Africa in the second one-dayer at the Gaddafi stadium on Saturday. Yousuf's 117 led the hosts to 265 for nine before they bowled out South Africa for 240 to level the five-match series 1-1. Iftikhar (3-43) and Gul (3-59) bowled a disciplined line on a slow, wearing pitch. South Africa captain Graeme Smith [Images] top-scored with 65 in 96 balls but he enjoyed a charmed life as he was bowled first ball off a no-ball and was dropped on 19, 29 and 44. He and AB de Villiers (35) shared a stand of 76 for the third wicket. After Smith went with the score on 140 for six in the 35th over, the experienced Shaun Pollock [Images] hit 37 and Albie Morkel made 31 in a partnership of 55 but Pakistan stayed cool to clinch victory. GOOD EFFORT "It was a challenging total on that wicket," Smith told reporters. "Credit to Yousuf, his hundred was a good effort. "We got close but we kept on losing wickets in the middle overs." Pakistan made an excellent start when Gul trapped Herschelle Gibbs [Images] lbw for a duck from the third ball of the innings and next over left arm paceman Sohail Tanvir removed Jacques Kallis [Images] for another duck. Younis Khan took over as Pakistan captain in the 10th over after Shoaib Malik [Images] went off with a calf strain. Malik, though, returned for the final few overs. Earlier, Yousuf notched his 13th one-day international century for Pakistan. After opting to bat first, the home team built their sizeable total around a 107-run fourth-wicket partnership between Yousuf and Malik, who clubbed four sixes in his 56. Yousuf said it was a tricky pitch to bat on. "It was slow and difficult to make shots when the ball got old," he said. "It was a good effort from me." Malik said winning the toss was important after the same pitch was also used for the first match on Thursday.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||