Yousuf's hundred helps Pakistan pulverise Bangladesh by AFP

---

Ground:	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Scorecard:	Pakistan v Bangladesh
Player:	Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Farhad Reza, Sohail Tanvir, Shahid Afridi
Event:	Bangladesh in Pakistan 2007/08

---

DateLine: 8th April 2008

 

Mohammad Yousuf hit an attractive hundred to help Pakistan thrash Bangladesh by 152 runs on Duckworth-Lewis method in the first day-night international here on Tuesday.

 

The 33-year-old right-hander scored an unbeaten 108 off 103 balls and added a record 145 runs for the fourth wicket with captain Shoaib Malik (85) to propel Pakistan to an impressive 322-5 in the allotted 50 overs.

 

Pacemen Sohail Tanveer (3-29) and Rao Iftikhar (2-16) then shattered the tourists' batting as they folded at 129 in 29.5 overs to give Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

 

Tanveer rocked Bangladesh with a triple strike in his incisive seven-over spell, removing Tamim Iqbal (five), Shahriar Nafees (24) and Aftab Ahmed (14) to leave the visitors reeling at 49-3.

 

Two power breakdowns, stopping play for 48 minutes in all, saw Bangladesh's target revised to 282 in 39 overs which proved beyond their reach after a poor start.

 

Iftikhar had Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful (nine) and Shakib Al Hasan (nought) to further compound the tourists' problems.

 

Leg-spinner Shahid Afridi (3-41) then removed Farhad Reza (seven) and Dhiman Ghosh (nought) while Shoaib Malik dismissed Roqibul Hassan (12) to bring Pakistan closer to victory.

 

Mashrafe Mortaza (25) and Abdur Razzak (11 not out) shared 37 for the last wicket to take Bangladesh past 100 but it only delayed the inevitable.

 

Malik hailed a great show by the team.

 

"It was a great game and our plan is to win all five matches," said Malik. "We batted well to post a challenging total and then bowlers did very well."

 

Earlier Pakistan's innings rallied around man-of-the-match Yousuf's brilliant knock

 

Yousuf, who reached his 17th hundred off 99 balls, hit eleven boundaries and in Malik's company ensured the home team didn't slip further after they were in some trouble at 70-3.

 

The pair beat Pakistan's previous best fourth-wicket stand against Bangladesh in one-day internationals set by Inzamam-ul-Haq and Younis Khan at Multan in 2003.

 

Malik hit seven boundaries during his 75-ball knock before he holed out.

 

Yousuf continued to punish the hapless bowling through a brisk fifth wicket stand of 68 with Misbahul Haq, who made 38 off 27 balls with two sixes and a four.

 

Mortaza removed Misbah, caught behind to claim his 100th wicket in 78 one-day matches. He is the second Bangladeshi bowler behind Mohammad Rafique to complete 100 one-day wickets.

 

Afridi hit two sixes in the last over by Razzak to finish on an 11-ball 27 not out.

 

Bangladesh, who surprisingly left out frontline pacemen Syed Rasel and Shahadat Hossain, used seven bowlers with captain Ashraful and Mahmudullah Riad conceding 85 runs in seven overs between them.

 

Reza and Mortaza used the new ball well after Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. Reza removed Nasir Jamshed (20) and Salman Butt (33) while Mortaza dismissed Younis Khan (one) to give the tourists upper hand.

 

Yousuf and Malik then revived the innings with some attractive batting and took away the game from Bangladesh.

 

Ashraful blamed poor batting for his team's loss.

 

"We batted poorly. We bowled well in the first 20 overs but then Yousuf and Malik took the game away from us. We need to lift our game in the remaining matches," said Ashraful.

 

The second match will be played at Faisalabad on Friday.

(Article: Copyright © 2008 AFP)