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Yusaf Pathan steered India to an improbable victory at Bangalore in their fourth ODI against New Zealand on Tuesday. Gautam Gambhir won the toss and put New Zealand in to bat bat who laid down a huge score of 315 runs. Chasing this mammoth score, India, at one stage were 188 for 5 having lost the top five batsmen. But Yusuf Pathan was was on a different pedestal altogether. He struck with confidence and stamped authority with his each shot. His 97 ball 123 runs were ample proof that Pathan has given a notice to the selection committee for the forthcoming World Cup.  

His century overshadowed a superbly-crafted 98 from James Franklin that had allowed New Zealand to reach a daunting total.

It rained for about an hour and when play resumed again, India needed 113 runs from 14 overs a difficult task which was made easy by Yusuf Pathan.  Yusuf launched a Daniel Vettori delivery into the stands beyond long-on and shot a delivery from Kyle Mills over the roof. 

In the  43rd over Pathan smashed Mills for three fours and slammed a six over midwicket. And when he brought up his maiden hundred with a pulled six, off Andy McKay in the next over, the game was almost over.  (more…)