YOUNIS Khan struck his first one-day international century on home soil on Wednesday to take Pakistan to an eight-wicket win over India in a high-scoring Asia Cup super league match in Karachi.
Younis’ undefeated 123, his fifth one-day century in 174 matches, gave Pakistan its fifth victory while chasing 300 or more runs for victory and revived its fading hopes of a place in the final.
Pakistan reached its victory target of 309 for the loss of only two wickets with 4.3 overs to spare after India had compiled 308 for seven from its 50 overs.
If Sri Lanka beats India in a match late yesterday, Pakistan has to defeat Bangladesh in the final league match by a big margin to play in the final. Sri Lanka has already qualified.
Younis shared partnerships of 56 with Nasir Jamshed (53), who retired hurt with cramps, and an undefeated 144 from 123 balls with captain Misbah-ul-Haq (70 not out).
Younis also passed 5,000 international one-day runs in his innings of 117 balls which contained 11 fours and one six.
Misbah said Younis’ century was one of the best he had seen from him. “When he plays like this we usually win. We knew we could win this one when we restricted them to 308 after their strong start. The pitch was very good and all credit to our bowlers for bowling aggressively and playing positively,” he told reporters.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (76) and Rohit Sharma (58) provided the basis for India’s competitive total.
Dhoni, who came into bat in the 13th over, was out in the penultimate over after hitting four boundaries from 96 balls.
India scored 77 in the final 10 overs with Irfan Pathan hitting an unbeaten 38.
Dhoni said India would now treat the game against Sri Lanka as a semifinal. “I don’t know what went wrong today but we just have 14 to 15 hours to recover and give our best against Sri Lanka,” he said.