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TORONTO (Canada): Pakistan rode on majestic 74 by opener beat little known Canada by 35 runs to notch up their win in a 4-Nation Twnety20 cricket tournament here on Friday at Kings City ground.

Elected to bat after winning the toss Pakistan were restricted to 137 for 7 in 20 over by Canadian team having expatriates who reached 102 for 9 in 20 overs as express bowler Shoaib Akhtar marked his return to international cricket with a 2 wicket haul.

Man of the match, Salman held together the innings with a 56 ball innings for the entertainment of the audience and produced 63 runs for the fourth wicket along with Misbah ul haq (17 ) as Pakistan went down at 63 for 3 .

Debutant opener Shoaib Khan failed to extend support to Salman felling at (9) and experienced Younis Khan could manage (13) and much was left to be accomplished by Salman to build up the innings.

Salman’s fire work knock which contained 6 mighty sixes and three fours was the highlight of Pak innings as most its batsmen struggled to cope a good bowling of Canadian side.

H.Baidwan took three wicket for 15 runs in 3 overs including the prized wicket of the top scorer, Salman caught by Jethi , Younis Khan (13) and Misbah , all three important wickets .

But splendid half century by Salman kept Pakistan in front . Pace man Umer Bhatti made good impression claiming three wickets for 23 runs in 4 overs as Pakistan failed to post a big total.

With Shoaib Akhtar in action Canada found it hard to cope with the pace and sting of express bowler who marked his return after 11 months with two early wickets as the home innings caved innings but a 52 runs stand between top scorer Rizwan Cheema (34) and RR David (17) gave them some relief.

Cheema harshly treated Pakistani bowlers without much fear forcing four fours and two sixes in 42 balls to shake off the confidence of Shoaib Akhtar with a sixer.

But as soon the pair was dislodged there was no respite for the home team as Pakistan bowlers appeared in control with Sohail Tanvir getting two wickets for 29 runs ,captain Shoaib Malik justifying the role of all rounder ,bagging two wickets for 26 as debutant in T-20, Sohail Khan could not get any wicket.

The other notable scorers of Canadians were S.Dhaniram (17) and WD Balaji (7).

Pak innings; Salman Butt c Jethi b Baidwan 74 Shoaib Khan Jr c Dhaniram b Bhatti 9 Younis Khan c Samad b Baidwan 13 Shoaib Malik Rizwan Cheema 9 Misbah ul Haq c Rizwan Cheema b Baidwan 17 Shahid Afirdi b Bhatti 2 Sohail Tanvir notout 0 Umar Gul notout 0 Extras (b-1,lb-2,wb-3) 6 Total ( for 7 in 20 overs) 137

Fall of wkts 1-20,2-50,3-63,4-127,5-127 6-130,7-137 Bowling H Osinde 4-0-23-0, U Bhatti 4-0-23-0 Rizwan Cheema 4-0-21-1,HS Baidwan 3-0-15-3, WB Balaji Rao 3-0-29-0, S Dhaniram 2-0-23-0.

Canada innings AM Samad c Younis b S.Akhtar 0 Rizwan Cheema c Misbah b S.Malik 34 Mohammad Iqbal b S.Akhtar 4 RR David c S Malik b Gul 17 AA Mulla c Salman Butt b Afridi 1 S Dhaniram st Kamran b S.Malik 17 K Jethi b Sohail Tanvir 0 WD Balaji b Sohail Tanvir 7 U Bhatti notout 5 HS Baidwan runout 1 H Osinfe notout 1 Extras (lb-2,wb-13) 15 Total ( for 9 in 20 overs) 102 Fall of wkts, 1-1,2-13,3-65,4-66,5-71,6-73, 7-81,8-99,9-100.

Bowling Shoaib Akhtar 3-0-11-2, (3w), Sohail Tanvir 4-0-29-2 (2w),Sohail Khan 1-0-7-0 (2w),Shahid Afirdi 4-1-13-1 ,Umar Gul 4-0-14-1 (1w), Shoaib Malik 4-0-26-2 (1w) Man of the match ,Salman Butt, (Pakistan), Umpires, K.Bayney and MR Benson (England) ,referee ,JJ Crowe,( New Zealand).