Cricket: Pakistan Beats India in Champions Trophy Game

Pakistan beat India by 54 runs in the Champions Trophy game, after scoring 302 helped by a century by Shoaib Malik.
Cricket: Pakistan Beats India in Champions Trophy Game
Shoaib Malik of Pakistan hits out during the ICC Champions Trophy group A match between India and Pakistan at Centurion on September 26, 2009 in Centurion, South Africa. (Tom Shaw/Getty Images)
9/27/2009
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/champions_india_pak_91168634.jpg" alt="Shoaib Malik of Pakistan hits out during the ICC Champions Trophy group A match between India and Pakistan at Centurion on September 26, 2009 in Centurion, South Africa. (Tom Shaw/Getty Images)" title="Shoaib Malik of Pakistan hits out during the ICC Champions Trophy group A match between India and Pakistan at Centurion on September 26, 2009 in Centurion, South Africa. (Tom Shaw/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1826065"/></a>
Shoaib Malik of Pakistan hits out during the ICC Champions Trophy group A match between India and Pakistan at Centurion on September 26, 2009 in Centurion, South Africa. (Tom Shaw/Getty Images)

Pakistan won its second Champions Trophy cricket game, beating India by 54 runs on Saturday in Centurion, South Africa in a much heated rivalry.

Pakistani batsman Shoaib Malik scored 128 runs and was awarded the man of the match award.

Pakistan scored 302 after losing 9 wickets in their alloted 50 overs after batting first. India, which struggled to maintain a scoring pace that would get them within eye shot of a win, kept losing wickets rapidly especially towards the end of the match.

India finally scored 248 after losing all wickets with five overs and 1 ball left.

Pakistani batsmen, especially Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf—who scored 87 in a 206-run partnership with Malik—made a lot of runs off Indian spin bowlers Harbajan Singh and Yusuf Pathan.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s own slow bowlers, Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi, were very economical with their bowling and took four wickets between them.

For India, Gautam Gambhir scored 46, and Rahul Dravid scored 76, but their efforts were far from enough to get India anywhere near a victory.

With the win, Pakistan will be hoping to repeat their phenomenal success in the World Twenty20 series in England earlier this year by taking the Champions Trophy.

The Champions Trophy is a cricket tournament featuring the eight best nations in the cricket world. The 2009 Champions Trophy consists of Australia, India, Pakistan and West Indies in Group A, and England, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka in Group B.

This year’s Champions Trophy is the first one in three years.