Pakistan
win at Peshawar, take lead 2-1 (Go
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Peshawar:
Pakistan took 2-1 lead in the ongoing one-day series against
India when it beat the visitors by four wickets. Yasir Hameed
blunted an inspired Indian bowling attack with a fine 98-run
knock before Abdur Razzaq sailed Pakistan through to the
victory with 16 balls to spare in another thrilling contest
between the arch-rivals here today. The victory gave the
hosts a vital 2-1 lead in the five-match series as the action
moves on to Lahore for the double-header on March 21 and
24. Although the excitement stretched till the final overs,
it did not boil down to a nerve-wracking situation as Razzaq
(53 not out) and Moin Khan (22 not out) held their cool
to hand the home team its second successive win in the series.
Chasing India's 244 for nine in 50 overs, Pakistan survived
some early scare, reduced as they were to 65-4 at one stage,
before romping home thanks to the solid batting display
by youngster Hameed and the experience of Razzaq. They finished
at 247 for six in 47.2 overs.
Pak's
even Peshawar record (Go
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Karachi:
Peshawar's Arbab Niaz Stadium will be staging the one-day
international today when India takes on Pakistan in the
third of the five one-day matches. There were two occasions
when India could have played a full one-day international
here, but eventually play never got underway in either instance.
The first time was on November 2, 1984, when the third one-day
international to be played against India here was cancelled
following the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi in New Delhi on October 31, 1984. The Indian team's
tour was cancelled midway as a result. The second instance
was in 1989-90. The match that was to be played on December
16, 1989 was cancelled because of poor light. Of the eight
One-day Internationals that Pakistan has played at the Arbab
Niaz Stadium, they have won four and lost a similar number.
Two of these wins have been against New Zealand and one
each against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Of the four losses,
two were against West Indies and one each against England
and Australia. There have been 12 such matches played at
this venue since November 12, 1984 when Pakistan defeated
New Zealand here by a 46-run margin.
The
Peshawar wicket holds no real surprises as in six of the
12 matches played here the team batting first has won and
on the other six occasions the team batting second. Today
too the pendulum could turn either way. England has won
on all four occasions that they have appeared at this stadium.
One such triumph was by 98 runs against Pakistan in a limited-over
series, on November 22, 1987. England's other three matches
here were all in World Cup competitions. In 1987, they beat
Sri Lanka on the basis of a faster scoring rate. In 1996,
they defeated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by eight wickets
before winning against the Netherlands by 49 runs.
Referee
Madugalle cautions Ganguly on statements (Go
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Peshawar:
The International Cricket Council's (ICC) match referee
for the current Pakistan-India series, Ranjan Madugalle
of Sri Lanka, has cautioned Indian captain Sourav Ganguly
to refrain from making contentious comments during the series.
According to the News, Madugalle spoke to Ganguly after
his remarks about the International Cricket Council (ICC)
regulations on slow over-rates being "ridiculous" after
the Karachi one-day international that was played on March
13. "Basically Madugalle reminded him of his duties as a
captain and advised him to be careful in future," a source
told the paper. Pakistan's manager Haroon Rasheed had also
raised the issue about the match-referee not taking any
action against Ganguly under the players code of conduct,
the source further confirmed.
"Madugalle
told the Pakistan manager at the hearing held on Wednesday
to decide on a fine on the Pakistan team and captain for
slow over-rate during the second match in Rawalpindi, that
Ganguly had regretted his remarks," the source added. "Madugalle
basically said that technically Ganguly had criticized the
rule and not the ICC which was why he was not penalized.
But he told Haroon and Inzamam that he had spoken to Ganguly
and expressed surprise that he didn't know about the new
ruling on over-rates in ODIs," the source informed.
