MULTAN: A brilliant maiden One-day International century by Yasir Hameed laid the foundation of Pakistan's comprehensive 137-run victory over Bangladesh in the opening encounter of the five-match series at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Yasir, who began his Test career on a sensational note by scoring a century in each innings at Karachi last month against the same opposition, stroked a scintillating 116 in 132 balls as Pakistan amassed 323 for three in their allotted 50 overs - a total largely based around a whirlwind unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 112 in 57 deliveries between skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq and Younis Khan.
Inzamam, in winning his third straight match as captain, further achieved two notable milestones in his outstanding career. First he joined India's Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin and the Sri Lankan duo of Aravinda de Silva and Sanath Jayasuriya in the 9,000-run ODIs club by nudging Mushfiqur Rahman for a single, his 43rd run of his 273rd innings in 291 matches. And then, Inzamam's 65th half-century made him the sole record-holder of most number of one-day fifties, overtaking joint-leader de Silva.
Bangladesh, demoralized by their feeble display in the field, then crashed to 186 all out in 43.2 overs. They would have lost the match by a bigger margin had the last pair of Mushfiqur Rahman and Mohammad Rafique not shared a Bangladesh record stand for the 10th wicket.
They added 46 in 59 balls, erasing the previous best partnership for this wicket of 29 by Mashrafe bin Mortaza and Mohammad Sharif against Zimbabwe at Dhaka in 2001-02.
Mushfiqur, coming in at No 9, finished as the highest-scorer with a spirited unbeaten 36 off 65 balls, hitting seven fours, while Rafique fell to Mohammad Hafeez's off-spin after contributing 19.
With none of the batsmen standing long enough in the first half of their innings, Bangladesh tumbled to 52 for five by the end of 13th over. Abdul Razzaq struck twice in his opening over, sending back Rajin Saleh (25) and Khaled Mahmud (third ball duck) after Umar Gul and Shabbir Ahmed had picked a wicket each.
Mohammad Ashraful, facing his first ball, was trapped lbw in the opening over of the innings. Habibul Bashar then continued his wretched one-day record, this time run out when Yasir Hameed threw down the stumps from the covers. Habibul scored only six runs of 21 balls.
Tushar Imran went without troubling the scorers but 19-year-old Alok Kapali played some glorious strokes in making a breezy 26 at almost a run-ball with the aid of five boundaries.
Earlier, Rajin Saleh impressed again with a stylish 45-ball knock laced with three hits to the fence before being clean bowled. Razzaq and Hafeez finished with three wickets each.
Junaid Zia, an ordinary medium-pacer with a modest record and whose inclusion aroused so much controversy in the media, made an unspectacular debutant. He conceded six boundaries in his seven overs as well as bowling one no-ball and five wides.
Junaid, who turns 20 on Dec 11, is the 149th player to represent Pakistan at this level and must surely be one of the luckiest to be handed the prized green cap.
Pakistan, electing to bat first, opened with Mohammad Hafeez Yasir Hameed. Yasir opening the innings for the first time in his career and the pair posted the first 50 of the innings off 53 balls before Hafeez fell in the 10th over. He was run out by Mushfiqur for 31-ball 27 which included six fours.
Yasir completed a fine 50 off 81 balls with his seventh boundary.
Youhana, in his typical busy style, nudged and deflected at will as the partnership flourished beyond the three-figure mark. Ironically, it was the run out of Youhana for 49 broke the second-wicket 120-run stand, which took 121 balls. The right-hander's 66-ball knock was laced with four fours and a six.
Yasir, now joined by Inzamam, reached the coveted three-figure mark with a single off Mushfiqur, taking 71 balls for the second fifty, hammering 12 fours and one six. After hitting two more fours and another six, Yasir was spectacularly caught in the covers by Rajin off Kapali. But the real impetus to Pakistan was provided by Inzamam and Younis as the last four overs yielded 64 runs. Younis was merciless from the word go, taking heavy toll of an attacked which appeared no better than a club side in the final 10 overs of the innings.
Younis cut, pulled and drove his away to an enthralling 59 off only 31 deliveries, blasting no fewer than three sixes, two in one over of Mushfiqur, and four boundaries. Inzamam struck seven fours during his 48-ball 56.
The teams now move onto Faisalabad for the second match of the series on Friday. Scoreboard
Pakistan
Mohammad Hafeez run out 27
Yasir Hameed c R. Saleh b Alok Kapali 116
Yousuf Youhana run out 49
Inzamam-ul-Haq not out 56
Younis Khan not out 59
Extras (lb-4, w-3, nb-9) 16
Total (for three wickets, 50 overs) 323
Fall of wkts: 1-62, 2-182, 3-211
Did not bat: Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Junaid Zia, Shabbir Ahmed, Umar Gul.
Fall of wkts: 1-3 2-28 3-39 4-52 5-52 6-78 7-100 8-120 9-140
Bowling: Umar Gul 8-0-51-1 (nb-3, w-6), Shabbir Ahmed 8-2-19-1 (w-3), Abdul Razzaq 8-2-32-3 (nb-2), Junaid Zia 7-0-35-0 (nb-1, w-5), Shoaib Malik 6-1-22-0 (nb-2), Mohammad Hafeez 6.2-1-17-3 (w-1)
