Malik takes Pakistan to victory

Pakistan registered a comfortable eight-wicket victory over India 'A' in a warm-up one-day game at the Visaka stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Led by superb half-centuries from Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik, the visitors coasted to the victory target of 190 runs in 41 overs, for the loss of two wickets.

Malik was unbeaten on 81 off 78 balls (4 boundaries, 4 sixes) and Butt contributed with an useful 70 from 124 balls.

The duo put on 137 runs for the second wicket, after opener Mohammad Hafeez was run out by Niraj Patel in the 17th over.

Bengal speedster Ranadeb Bose claimed the only other wicket, when he bowled Butt in the 41st over to return with figures of 1 for 41 in his eight overs.

Earlier, Pakistan, playing without their five senior players, restricted India 'A' to a modest 189 for 7 in a match reduced to 45 overs.

The match, which was scheduled to begin at 0900 hours was delayed by 30 minutes due to administrative reasons. The Pakistan team arrived at 0830 hours and had a brief practice session.

Suresh Raina compiled an authoritative 55 off 64 balls with five fours while Sridharan Sriram (38) and Y Venugopal Rao (30) also chipped in with useful knocks after Pakistan won the toss and elected to field.

The visitors who rested their top guns -- skipper Inzamam-ul Haq, Yousuf Youhana, vice-captain Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Sami -- used as many as seven bowlers to give bit of practice to all ahead of the six-match one-day series against India beginning in Kochi on Saturday.

Pakistan pace bowlers Rana Naved-ul Hasan and Iftikhar Anjum Rao operated the new ball and troubled the India 'A' openers Shikhar Dhawan and M S Dhoni with their teasing line.

The duo constantly probed outside the off stump and soon reaped the rewards when Dhoni snicked a rising delivery from Naved into the safe hands of Shoaib Malik.

S Sriram joined Dhawan and the duo looked to tackle the bowling with ease. Dhawan cheered the crowd with an elegant boundary off Naved but in the very next ball his middle stump was uprooted by an incoming delivery.

Next in was Y Venugopal Rao who played it safe by getting used to the pace of the pitch as stand-in skipper Abdul Razzaq brought in Shahid Nazir in place of Naved.

Spin was introduced soon much to the comfort of the India 'A' batsmen. While Sriram looked aggressive, Venugopal Rao played a sedate knock before he was caught at long on by Iftikhar to give Arshad Khan his first wicket.

Sriram, who was playing well went for a quick single but the two players ended up at the same end and Sriram was run out for a well-made 38 with two hits to the fence.

Neeraj Patel arrived with a bang and hit a massive six off Arshad Khan to the long on to make his intentions clear.

Star spinner Danish Kaneria made his appearance in the 30th over but the leggie's entry made no impact on the two left handers.

Raina hit a straight drive for four while Neeraj made Kaneria's bowling look very ordinary.

Nazir claimed Patel, who was beaten by the incoming delivery which took away his off stump.

Pakistan beat an India A side by eight wickets with four overs to spare in a warm-up one-day game in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Contest: Predict the MOM for the first ODI and win!Scoreboard:

India 'A'
Shikhar Dhawan b Naved 8
M S Dhoni c Malik b Naved 3
S Sriram run out 38
Y Venugopal Rao c Anjum b Arshad 20
Suresh Raina c Malik b Anjum 55
Neeraj Patel b Nazir 18
Romesh Powar run out 16
Sairaj Bahutule not out 12
Amit Bhandari not out 1

Extras (b-5, lb-1, w-6, nb-6)  18

Total (for 7 wickets in 45 overs) 189

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-31, 3-77, 4-82, 5-118, 6-157, 7-182

Bowling: Rana Naved-ul-Hasan 9-1-42-2, Rao Iftikhar Anjum 9-0-31-1, Shahid Nazir 9-1-26-1, Mohammad Hafeez 5-0-18-0, Arshad Khan 6-0-22-1, Danish Kaneria 3-0-20-0, Abdul Razzaq 4-0-24-0.

Pakistan:
Salman Butt b Ranadeb Bose 70
Mohammad Hafeez run out  16
Shoaib Malik not out 81
Abdul Razzaq not out 1

Extras (lb-1, w-15, nb-6)  22

Total (for two wickets in 41 overs) 190

Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-184.

Bowling: Amit Bhandari 9-1-22-0, Rudra Pratap Singh 8-0-25-0, Ranadeb Bose 8-0-41-1, Sairaj Bahutule 7-0-33-0, Romesh Powar 3-0-31-0, Sridharan Sriram 6-1-37-0.

Result: Pakistan won by 8 wickets.