India defeated Pakistan to win the 2005 Snooker Challenge 39-38 but not before the event went to wire here today.
Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf, in the last lucky seven singles against Manan Chandra, required a victory with a half century break to force a sudden-death. But Yusuf could only manage a 64-41 victory.
Pakistan appeared dead and buried when they started the final day’s play trailing 20-31 with a minimum of 17 points for grabs.
But they got a lifeline in the fourth match of the day when surprise package Imran Shahzad not only defeated Manan Chandra 20-58, 73-20, 114-10 but also conjured up the maiden century break of the series to reduce India’s lead to 35-30.
Mohammad Yousuf, in the fifth match, then recovered to beat Alok Kumar 8-131, 76-35, 60-45. Pakistan captain Naveen Perwani kept Pakistan’s hopes alive when he defeated Devendra Joshi 81-13, 72-48, 33-61.
Earlier, India started on a winning note when the combination of Joshi and Pankaj Advani defeated Yousuf and Imran Shahzad 59-58 on the black ball. The Indian team had also won the series when it hosted last year.