Bangalore: A brilliant partnership between Pakistan captain Mohammed Hafeez and former captain Shoaib Malik helped the visitors beat India by five wickets in the first T20 match being played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.
Pakistan chasing 134 runs to win were three down for only 12 runs on the board, but these two senior-pro put together 106 runs for the fourth wicket to seal the match.
Earlier in the day, Hafeez won the toss and decided to bowl first. Pakistan have always surprised opponents with their bowling talents and this match was no different. They unleashed the seven-footer Mohammad Irfan and the move worked.
Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane started cautiously getting used to the pace and bounce Irfan generated. Rahane was very good with his lofted drives and gave India the early momentum. Gambhir struggled but managed to score at run-a-ball.
India were 75/0 at the half-way stage and it looked as if they will score something past 160. But it all changed from there, both Rahane and Gambhir got out in their forties. Virat Kohli has been India’s best batsmen off-late but he too found it difficult to negate Irfan and got out hooking for only nine runs.
Indian skipper was next to go when he was bowled by Saeed Ajmal for one. Yuvraj Singh who started his innings with a magnificent six didn’t pick a slower delivery from Umar Gul and gave an easy catch to square-leg.
Suresh Raina was cleaned up by Ajmal and Rohit Sharma succumbed to some brilliant fielding from Malik. Ravindra Jadeja too didn’t trouble the scorers as Gul picked him and Ishant Sharma in consecutive deliveries. India at the end of 20 overs reached 133.
Pakistan in reply got off to a horrible start. Debutant pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar swung the ball beautifully and got Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal in his opening spell. The ball he produced to clean up Akmal was virtually an unplayable one.
Pakistan needed a good partnership and Hafeez and Malik provided exactly that. They were very circumspect against the spinners but attacked the spinners. They punished Jadeja, Yuvraj and Kohli for every lose delivery they bowled.
With game under control, Hafeez got out after playing a good knock of 61. His wicket infused panic in the team which resulted in some rash stroke. Pakistan needed 10 runs of the last over but the good thing for them was that Malik was at the crease.
Jadeja bowling the final over managed to get away with the first three balls of his overs, but Malik hit him for a huge six over long-on to finish the match. He remained unbeaten on 57.
Brief Score:
India: 133 for 9 (Gambhir 43, Rahane 42, Gul 3-21)
Pakistan: 134 for 5 (Hafeez 61, Malik 57*, Kumar 3-9)
By Indian Sports News Network