Cricket
Pakistan win opening T20
2012-12-26 11:21
Shoiab Malik hit the winning runs with two balls remaining to help
Pakistan to a five-wicket win over India in the first T20 international
in Bangalore on Tuesday - the first time in five years a bilateral tour
between these two countries has taken place.
Shoaib and Mohammad Hafeez came together when Pakistan were teetering on
12-3, as Indian debutant Bhuvneshwar Kumar ripped through the top
order.
The pair constructed a well-played 108-run partnership to put the
visitors in sight of victory, before Hafeez (61) tried to cut Ishant
Sharma and was caught at third man.
Kamran Akmal fell soon after for a single, but Shoaib kept his cool and
saw this team home with a straight six over the bowler's head.
Shoaib finished unbeaten on 57 off 50 deliveries, having hit three fours and three sixes.
Earlier, Pakistan restricted India to 133 for nine after inviting their hosts to bat first.
Gautam Gambhir (43) and Ajinkya Rahane (42) started off like a house on
fire, putting on 77 runs for the first wicket inside 11 overs, but
Pakistan fought back and took nine wickets for just 56 runs.
The final five wickets fell for only nine runs.
Other than the two openers, only Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina reached double figures, posting 10 runs each.
Umar Gul finished with 3-21, having bowled only three of his four overs.
Teams:
India:
G Gambhir, AM Rahane, V Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, SK Raina,
RG Sharma, MS Dhoni (captain & wk), RA Jadeja, B Kumar, I Sharma, AB
Dinda
Pakistan:
Mohammad Hafeez (capt), Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed,
Kamran Akmal (wk), Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Sohail
Tanvir, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan