India 'A' bowlers taken to task as Pakistan 'A' amass 288

Abu Dhabi, May 5 (UNI) Riding on a brilliant hundred by skipper Hasan Raza, Pakistan A punished the Indian speedsters, who failed to capitalise on a good start and allowed their rivals to overcome initial hiccups to pile up 288 runs for the loss of four wickets in the finals of the Eurasia Cup here today.

The Indian pacers failed to impress in the crucial tie and released their grip on the Pakistan A batting line-up, which was reeling at 88 for three in 15 overs.

Dubbed as the next big thing in Indian cricket, Piyush Chawla scalped two wickets in his first two overs to give the upperhand to the indians in the match.

Chawla was undoubtedly the pick of the Indian bowlers today as he along with Reetinder Singh Sodhi proved to be the most economical of all the bowlers. Chawla finished with figures of 10-41-2 after scalping the vital wickets of Taufeeq Umar (40) and Shahid Yousuf (23) in quick succession.

Pakistan chose to bat first after winning the toss and Raza led from the front to score a defiant 106 not out amid crisis after his team was shaken up by Chawla's brilliant bowling.

Raza's knock was well supported by Misbah-ul-Haq, whose innings of 73 was cut short when he was run out by Dinesh Karthik. The pair shared a vital 174-run fourth wicket partnership.

The duo's innings helped steady Pakistan's ship and was a platform for the flurry of runs that followed in the slog overs.

Sodhi was the first to strike, dismissing Mohammad Hafeez (19) with Pakistan's score at 46 and finished his 10 overs conceding just 39 runs with one maiden.

The rest of the pack were far from impressive as R P Singh disappointed with figures of 10-60-0 and V R V Singh went for 77 in his nine. Venugopal Rao conceded 16 of his two overs.

Pakistan did not have any trouble as they scored freely towards the end and came u with the challenging total of 288.

Scoreboard: Pakistan A Mohammad Hafeez c Karthik b Sodhi 19 Taufeeq Umar st Karthik b Piyush Chawla 40 Shahid Yousuf c Uthappa b Piyush Chawla 23 Hasan Raza not out 106 Misbah-ul-Haq run out (Karthik) 73 Bazid Khan not out 11 Extras (LB-8, W-6, NB-2) 16 Total (for four wickets in 50 overs) 288 Fall of Wickets: 1/46 2/85 3/88 4/262 Bowling: RP Singh 10-0-60-0 VRV Singh 9-0-77-0 RS Sodhi 10-1-39-1 Piyush Chawla 10-0-41-2 R Jadeja 9-0-47-0 Venugopal Rao 2-0-16-0 UNI XC PG PM RN2051