Pathan Hits Maiden Century As India Make It 4-0

Pathan Hits Maiden Century As India Make It 4-0

Parthiv Patel's maiden ODI half-century laid the foundations for India before Yusuf Pathan finished off the job in style

©REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui (INDIA - Tags: SPORT CRICKET) Picture Supplied by Action Images

India 321-5 (Pathan 123no) beat
New Zealand 315-7 (Franklin 98no) by five wickets
Fourth One-Day International, Bangalore
Scorecard

Yusuf Pathan hammered a 79-ball century before India won the fourth One-Day International against New Zealand by five wickets in Bangalore.

James Franklin smashed an unbeaten 98 in 69 balls as New Zealand posted 315 for seven but with Pathan in stunning form, India were able to surpass that and move into a 4-0 series lead with Pathan unbeaten on 123 in 96 balls.

Set 316 to win, Parthiv Patel marked his first ODI start since 2004 with a handy innings of 53 in 57 balls as he and fellow opener Gautam Gambhir (27) put on 67 for the first wicket.

Gambhir fell when he cut Andy McKay to Martin Guptill and Virat Kohil followed two balls later, failing to score before being caught by Kyle Mills.

Yuvraj Singh made a fluent 20 but fell when he pulled Nathan McCullum too close to Jamie How at midwicket and after Rohit Sharma was given a huge reprieve, umpire Amish Saheba not spotting an inside edge snaffled by wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum, he went on to make 44.

Patel's dismissal, caught by substitute Kane Williamson off McCullum, put India under pressure but they delivered thanks to an unbroken century partnership between Pathan and Saurabh Tiwary.

Pathan muscled seven fours and seven sixes, one of which disappeared out of the stadium, while Tiwary played the role of the dutiful understudy before hitting three fours and a six in a composed unbeaten 37 in 39 balls as India got home with seven balls to spare.

Earlier, Franklin's career-best effort helped New Zealand accelerate after a series of batsmen made starts but failed to go on and India appeared to be in a strong position.

However, the left-hander blasted 12 fours and three sixes, including 22 runs from the final over bowled by Ashish Nehra to set India a stiff target.

Brendon McCullum (42), Scott Styris (46) and Guptill (30) also made good contributions and scored their runs quickly while Ross Taylor's 44 came in 73 balls before he was trapped in front by Ravi Ashwin.

Franklin then dominated partnerships with Daniel Vettori (17) and Nathan McCullum (13 not out) to push New Zealand past the 300 mark, and two big sixes in the final over almost earned him a maiden ODI century.

Only spinners Pathan (3-49) and Sharma (0-19) kept things reasonably tight with the ball, along with experienced pacer Zaheer Khan, whose eight overs went for just 40 runs.

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