Related Link : EurAsia Cricket Series 2006
Pakistan A took revenge on India A of their league match defeat a few days back to win yesterday’s final of the inaugural EurAsia Cricket Series by 36 runs. As always the trend of the tournament has been ‘win the toss and elect to bat first’ and that’s what happened yesterday with Pak A. Skipper Hasan Raza led from the front to score an unbeaten century and he was well supported by Misbah-ul-Haq who scored an impressive 73 off 94 balls with 4 fours and a six. Pakistan in the end, gave a daunting target of 289 for the India A side. VRV Singh was hammered for 77 runs in his 9 overs and RP Singh was scored off for 60 in his 10. The other bowlers had done better than these two and in particular, Piyush Chawla was impressive with his 2 for 41 in 10 overs and so was Reetinder Singh Sodhi who picked up a wicket for just 39 in his 10 overs.
For once the opening pair of Robin Uthappa and Shikhar Dhawan failed in giving a big start but their stand of 41 in about 10 overs wasn’t that bad a start. However it was the loss of these two opening batsmen in quick succession that made the chase difficult for the India A side. Skipper Venugopal Rao, who came in at no.4 combined well with Reetinder Singh Sodhi to put up a fighting stand of 147 but the skipper was guilty of not able to make the scoreboard ticking at the right rate. Venugopal Rao and Reetinder Singh Sodhi fell in the 40th over making the target out of reach for their side. 18-year-ol leg spinner Mansoor Ahmed had taken these two wickets. The rest of the batsmen couldn’t put up a fight and folded quickly to give Pakistan A a convincing 36-run win. Sodhi was the top scorer with 70 that came in 83 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes and Venu scored a slow 69 which had come off 99 balls with 4 fours and a six. Mansoor Ahmed picked up 4 wickets although he was expensive going at 6.8 r.p.o in his 10 overs. Umar Gul was outstanding as he ended up with 3 for 37 in 9.5 overs. The Pakistani Skipper Hasan Raza for his unbeaten 106 off 112 balls with 8 fours and a six was declared as the Man of the Match and he was also given the Player of the Series Award.