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Like every player in the Rajasthan Royals team, Shane Warne had a specific brief for Yusuf Pathan too in the inaugural Indian Premier League(IPL). Just hit straight, over the bowler's head. Capitalise on your reach, power and go for big hits, Pathan was told.

Indeed, a look at Pathan's IPL wagon-wheel will reveal that out of the 435 runs he had scored in 15 innings, 221 came in that area.

Now, if that's the picture of Pathan's batting we had in mind, of a batsman who simply likes to play with a straight bat, his half-century in the second One-dayer at Indore presented a completely different picture. This time, there were sweeps and reverse sweeps, pulls and drives, shots square of the wicket, that were completely different from what Warne had in mind.

He may have followed Warnie's advice with his first few shots but once his confidence was restored, he exploded. The important thing is he fulfilled whatever was asked of him by his two captains: Warne and MS Dhoni. The 50 in Indore came off 29 balls while an average 50 in the IPL had taken about 25 balls, with the quickest coming in 21.

Yusuf might have scored those runs at a crucial time but there is an even more important twist to his first success as an India One-day player. India can now bat all the way down till Number 7 and not to have worry about a fifth bowler. Indeed, the big question is can he, along with Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag's spin, add up as the elusive all-rounder?

If the wise-men were to visit Baroda once, the Moti Bagh ground in the heart of the city to be specific, they might find an answer. Out there, Yusuf has always been rated as a cricketer with distinct all-round abilities, long before Irfan had arrived.

"What we usually give a miss are his first class wickets. He's got 84 in 32 matches with his off-spin. Ask batsmen who've faced him in the domestic circuit, and you'll know he's very effective,'' says Yusuf's former Baroda captain and friend Mukesh Narula.

For Baroda, Yusuf has opened the innings, batted at number three, four and five and considering that he scored 148 for India 'A' in the match against New Zealand last month, the less said the better about his ability to adapt to the shifts.

"That's because he's one of those cricketers who likes to focus on what is required of him,'' says Narula.

It is no secret that India, in One-dayers especially, have never been supportive of the idea of walking in with five bowlers. Even in Tests, there are instances that can be counted on fingers, the number of times a five-man attack has been in place.

"With Irfan, that was exactly the case when he was at his peak. He would bowl his quota of ten overs and his batting had improved to the point that he was called to open or bat at number three," says Mehdi Sheikh, who coached the brothers during their school days.

To have Yusuf alongside Yuvraj and Virender, sharing the spot for the fifth and sixth bowlers, in an attack led by a three-man pace battery is as satisfying a combination as it gets for Dhoni. To add to it, where the emerging middle-order in India has the likes of Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, bringing stability, Yusuf has the unique advantage of bringing in just raw aggression.

"Yusuf is a no-frills player, but he's very effective. I've seen him walk out on wet grounds with flat wickets, freshly rolled, also ironed (to get rid of the moisture) and bowl superbly economical spells,'' says Narula.

Bearing in mind what Yusuf's longtime coach and colleague have to say, it's a luring thought, and definitely not out of place, to see him emerge as that vital all-round cog in the Indian line-up.

There's a lot of One-day cricket to be played in the coming year, 21 ODIs and almost a double T20 matches if only the ICC's Future Tours
Program (FTP) is to be considered. And knowing that selectors will seek a rotation plan, as Srikkanth has already hinted, Dhoni wouldn't mind having someone like Yusuf in his ranks.more cricketmore...

live cricket finally india 292/9 in 50 overs

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Gautam Gambhir	b Kevin Pietersen	70	76	6	1	92.1
Virender Sehwag	b Stuart Broad	1	4	0	0	25
Suresh Raina	c Samit Patel b Stuart Broad	4	9	1	0	44.4
Rohit Sharma	c Owasis Shah b Stuart Broad	3	13	0	0	23.1
Yuvraj Singh	c Matt Prior b Stuart Broad	118	122	#	2	96.7
MS Dhoni (W & C)	b Paul Collingwood	15	26	1	0	57.7
Yusuf Pathan	Not Out	50	29	2	3	172
Harbhajan Singh	run out Kevin Pietersen	8	10	0	0	80
Zaheer Khan	run out Samit Patel	1	7	0	0	14.3
RP Singh	b Steve Harmison	4	5	0	0	80
Munaf Patel	Not Out	0	1	0	0	0
Extras: 18(NB-2, WB-4, LB-9, Byes - 3, Penalty-0)				Run Rate:5.84
		Total Score: 292/9 (50.0)
Power Play2: 11 overs to 15 overs;Power Play3: 43 overs to 47 overs;
Bowling	O	M	R	W	NB	WD	E/R
James Anderson	6	0	26	0	0	1	4.33
Stuart Broad	10	0	55	4	2	1	5.5
Andrew Flintoff	9	0	49	0	1	0	5.44
Steve Harmison	7	0	50	1	0	1	7.14
Samit Patel	5	0	37	0	0	0	7.4
Paul Collingwood	8	0	43	1	0	0	5.38
Kevin Pietersen	5	0	20	1	0	0	4
Fall of Wickets
1-4 (Virender Sehwag 1.2), 2-15 (Suresh Raina 3.4), 3-29 (Rohit Sharma 7.3), 4-163 (Gautam Gambhir 29.6), 5-206 (MS Dhoni 38.6), 6-239 (Yuvraj Singh 43.4), 7-258 (Harbhajan Singh 46.3), 8-261 (Zaheer Khan 47.5), 9-274 (RP Singh 49.1)

Watch live 2nd ICL Final Cricket Match | Hyderabad Heroes v Lahore Badshah

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The script for the ICL 2008-09 finals has so far been a copy of last season’s so it won’t be a surprise, given that the Lahore Badshahs won the first of three matches, if the second game was tied.

But the Hyderabad Heroes will be keen to alter it instead of letting a bowl-out decide the championship. It will be difficult for them to overcome a Lahore side that has dominated its last five consecutive wins - the narrowest margin of victory in those games was a 13-run win against the Chennai Superstars. Everything has clicked for Lahore since beating the Chandigarh Lions by seven wickets at the start of this month. They haven’t lost more than five wickets in four chases and scored a whopping 211 in the one game in which they batted first. Hyderabad also put in a couple of masterful performances - beating the Mumbai Champs by 79 runs and the Royal Bengal Tigers by nine wickets - but seemed to have lost some of their spark after just edging past Bengal in the semi-final.

Watch live tv streaming of 2nd Indian Cricket League final match between Hyderabad Heroes vs Lahore Badshahs from 7:30 pm local time (1400 GMT) on 14th November, 2008. Live-Cricket-Match.com and sports.hasan-online.com will stream free live cricket match from Ahmedabad. Please allow 1/2 minutes to download the video and press “PLAY” to start the streaming. If video is not playing . try the alternative links.......more ....

YUVRAJ & PHOTO OF SIX

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kumble to focus on photography

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After focusing on ways to getting batsmen out, the retired Anil Kumble wants to devote his attention to photography.


"I am looking at photography. I will take some time off to take photographs. I will challenge myself in different ways", the ace leg spinner said a day after hanging his boots.

Starting a cricket academy is another venture that he plans while admitting that he had varied interests.

On whether he would take up any role if the BCCI assigned one, he said that he would take it easy for some time and take a call later. "I have been on the road for 18 years. Hadn't had time to spend time with my family".

On the commitment to the Indian Premier League (IPL), he said it was a contractual obligation, which he would fulfill.read more