Yusuf pathans fastest 100 in ipl 2010

Shane Warne, the Rajasthan Royals captain, has described Yusuf Pathan’s ferocious 37-ball century against Mumbai Indians as the best innings he’s seen in his 21-year career. Yusuf blasted nine fours and eight sixes to haul Rajasthan back into the game in their chase of 213, after they had required 143 in 57 balls at one stage. However, his innings – the second-quickest Twenty20 century – was in vain, as he was brilliantly run out by R Sathish, marking a decisive moment in Rajasthan’s four-run defeat.

“I’ve played cricket for 21 years and I have seen Sachin Tendulkar as the best batsman against whom I have played as he has murdered attacks and hit them all over the park. But today was the best innings I have ever seen,” Warne said. “From a situation of 37 for 3 in seven overs and chasing 213 and come so close thanks to a 37 ball-100. It’s a special innings. We believe we can win from anywhere. We just have to sort out our batting in the first six overs. In the last two IPLs we have won more games than anyone and we have won more close finishes.”
Lasith Malinga and Zaheer Khan, Mumbai’s fast bowlers, delivered yorkers consistently at the death when 19 were required off 12 balls. Rajasthan only managed 14, but Warne said the three run-outs in his team’s innings and some lapses in the field while Mumbai were batting cost them in the end.

“Malinga is a good bowler at the death. We had plans to get to within eight runs of the target,” Warne said. “The start wasn’t great with a run out in the first over. Three run outs in the innings, a couple of dropped catches and some extras. That probably cost us the game in the end. We’re proud of the way we played. We have a lot of young players who will take a lot from this.”
Yusuf regretted his dismissal but took heart from his team’s spirited comeback. “I made an error because of which we lost, else we would have won,” he said. “We’re sad right now but we are also very happy that we played good cricket apart from the extras we conceded. When such flat wickets get made, records get broken and runs get scored. We will learn a lot from this loss and there is not a lot to worry as this is a long tourney.”
Mumbai’s strong batting performance was a result of half-centuries from Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu. Shaun Tait, the South Australian fast bowler, proved the most expensive, conceding 46 in four wicketless overs and undermining a big reputation coming into this tournament. Warne, however, defended Tait and was confident he’d get better. “Shaun Tait is probably one of the most exciting bowlers in the world,” he said. “Unfortunately today he didn’t get it right. There were patches where he did. But he’ll be better for the run.”
Sachin Tendulkar, the Mumbai captain, hailed Yusuf’s knock as “special” and said he was aware of his ability to spark such a turnaround. “It was a special innings from him, but even the effort from R Sathish to get him run out was special,” he said.
“Before he came in and played that knock, I thought we would win this match with ease, but that’s the beauty of this great game. You can never take anything for granted. I knew Yusuf was in great form and if he connects the ball well, the target was achievable.”
The second-fastest Twenty20 hundred, a 37-ball assault from Yusuf Pathan, as delicate as it was brutal, wasn’t enough on a day in which precious little was contributed by the other Rajasthan Royals players. Ambati Rayudu, considered unlucky to have not played for India yet, earlier combined with Jharkhand youngster Saurabh Tiwary to help Mumbai Indians to a target that just about dodged the Yusuf-shaped bullet. It took special death bowling from Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga to deny Rajasthan 19 runs in the last two overs.
The it’s-good-to-be-back ad campaign of the IPL could well have been meant exclusively for Yusuf. In his first innings back in India, he shook a dying match up and gave Mumbai a right scare. The Yusuf show began when Rajasthan needed 143 off 57. He scored 54 off the next 11 balls he faced, 26 other deliveries got him 46, and when he finally got out he left Rajasthan 40 to get off 17 deliveries.
Of the nine fours and eight sixes he hit in a frenetic period of play, three shots stood out – and they were not sixes. The length deliveries and full tosses were all murdered, but in the 13th over – he was 57 off 22 by then – Ryan McLaren bowled a decent enough yorker to him. Yusuf opened the face late, beautifully late, and guided it for four. The next ball was not more than a couple of inches short of being a yorker, but on the stumps, and he managed to get under it, and still hit it to long-off for four. The third yorker of the over was neither wide nor straight, in between, and he leaned back to make space and steered it even later than the one before. More brutal hits preceded a moment of inspiration for Mumbai.
Arguably the best fielder in India, R Satish, returning from ICL, followed up his direct-hit run-out and a terrific caught-and-bowled with Yusuf’s dismissal. He bowled full and straight to Paras Dogra, the other batsman, then dived in his follow through to field the ball, and reverse-flicked – blind to the stumps – to catch a backing-up Yusuf short.
Dogra, who had scored 18 off 20 in the 107-run stand until then, opened up in the same over, and hit two fours and two sixes to bring down the target to 19 off 12.
Zaheer and Malinga, though, with Harbhajan Singh injured and not available to bowl, performed like champs. Eleven near-yorkers from the duo in the last two overs meant even the two wides they bowled were not enough for Rajasthan.
It was fitting for Mumbai that Indian cricketers helped them come back at crucial times: they had become the first team in the three seasons of IPL to play with only three overseas players. Kapil Dev and friends could afford a wee smile too. Rayudu, Sathish and Ali Murtaza – who took a wicket with his first ball – are all returning from the ICL.
Rayudu and Tiwary added 110 runs in 63 balls to help Mumbai Indians recover from a triple-strike in the first third of the innings. Shane Warne didn’t have to wait too long to find out if Tendulkar “will open and face [Shaun] Tait”, with Tendulkar walking out to open with Sanath Jayasuriya.
Jayasuriya took apart Dimitri Mascarenhas, and Tendulkar did the honours for Tait, taking 10 runs from the four balls that Tait bowled to him. Mascarenhas hit back with two wickets in one over, and at 70 for 3 in 6.3 overs, the onus was on the Indian batsmen.
Rayudu immediately showed glimpses of what made observers talk of him as a potential international. He wristily flicked the first ball he faced for four, lest anybody forget he’s from Hyderabad.
It was just as well that Tendulkar didn’t survive long enough to give the viewers the much-awaited contest against Warne: the latter was off colour, going for 29 runs in three overs. There was no turn for Warne, and he bowled too many half-volleys. Tiwary took full toll, and hit him down the ground for two fours and a six. By the time Warne took himself off, Mumbai had reached 121 in 12 overs. Tiwary had reached 26, and Rayudu 23, off 17 balls each.
Part-time offbreaks from Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and Yusuf went for full-time hitting. Rayudu hit three successive Jhunjhunwala deliveries for a huge six and fours either side of long-on. When he next smacked a six off Yusuf, he had reached 53 off just 30 deliveries, and Mumbai had rocketed to 166 in 16.3.
Tiwary reached his fifty by hitting Amit Uniyal, whose change-up delivery was the quicker one, to the long-on boundary. In fact it was all clean hitting down the ground from the two: out of the 108 they scored between them, only 16 came behind square.
Rayudu and Tiwary didn’t see the innings to the close, but Harbhajan Singh and Ryan McLaren contributed to Tait’s horror day, taking 22 off his last two overs. Each one of those runs mattered in the end