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India beat Pakistan to finish second

Abbas Ali played a fine innings of 49 while Sachin Nair bowled a match-winning spell of 3 for 50 as India beat arch rivals Pakistan by 48 runs in the concluding match of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Cup cricket tournament last night.

Though it was an inconsequential tie, with Sri Lanka having already won the three-nation championship, the India-Pakistan match had all the ingredients of a thriller.

The Indians, who had earlier lost to Sri Lanka by a massive margin in the tournament opener, did well to recover from 49 for 3 to score 217 for 8 in 50 overs. Later, helped by some accurate bowling, they restricted Pakistan to 169 for 9.

Pakistan failed to build a good partnership. A sedate 49 by Yasser Hamid and a typical one-day knock of 39 by Shahid Afridi were the only bright features of their innings.

Besides Nair, Gyanendra Pandey bowled well for India, claiming two wickets for 20 runs.

At one stage, Pakistan, who lost to Sri Lanka on Wednesday night, looked like cruising along with their score reading 134 for 4. They, however, lost five quick wickets and went down crashing.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, India began cautiously and put on 48 runs for the opening wicket. Thereafter, it was Abbas Ali, the grandson of the famous former India cricketer Mushtaq Ali, who dominated the show with a fine 49. He put on 97 runs for the fourth wicket with Sanjay Bangar (47). Both the batsmen were run-out just before completing their half centuries.

Pandey made 22 before he too was run-out, while Rohan Gavaskar could score just ten runs.

Vinod Kambli failed yet again as he was bowled by J Sami without opening his account.

For Pakistan, Arshad Khan bowled well and took two wickets for 33 runs.

Abbas Ali was declared the man of the match, while Eric Upashantha of Sri Lanka, who claimed seven wickets in the match against Pakistan, was adjudged the man of the tournament.

Sri Lanka, with two victories, won the tournament while India finished second and Pakistan third.

Brief scores:
India 217 for 8 (Abbas Ali-49, S Bangar 47, Y Arafit 2 for 49, Arshad Khan 2-33); Pakistan 169 for 9 (Y Hamed 49, S Afridi 39, Sachin Nair 3 for 50, G Pandey 2 for 20, preetham 2 for 30).

UNI