Pakistan Whips India by Five Wickets in First T20 Thriller


Bangalore, Dec 26 (IANS): In a pulsating contest typical of any encounter between the arch rivals, Pakistan beat India by five wickets in the first T20 tie in a jam-packed Chinnaswamy stadium here late Tuesday.

Chasing a modest target of 134 runs, Pakistan registered its first victory against India in a T20 series when Shoaib Malik got the required six runs with a six in the 20th over, off Ravindra Jadeja.

Though Pakistan made a disastrous start losing three wickets in the first three overs to a fiery spell by debutant pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar from Uttar Pradesh, captain Mohammed Hafeez and Malik defied a spirited Indian attack to race towards the winning post with a 106-run fourth wicket partnership.

India's hopes of containing Pakistan after man of the match Hafeez was caught by Kumar off Ishant Sharma for 61 in the 18th over were dashed as Malik remained at the wicket to see through the innings with his 57 off 50 balls.

Dhoni's frantic attempts to break the Hafeez-Malik partnership with a combination of pace and spin didn't succeed as the experienced duo first settled down to open up in the middle overs and steadied the innings towards a thrilling victory in the last over.

Ashoke Dinda and Sharma shared one wicket each.

Pakistan's star all-rounder Shahid Afrdi, who came to bat in the last over after Kamran Akmal fell for one run in the 19th over, remained unbeaten with 3.

Earlier, put to bat first after Hafeez won the toss, India collapsed to a paltry 133 for 9 in the stipulated 20 over, as the middle order and tail-enders failed to capitalise on the solid start its openers Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane gave with a 77-run partnership in the first 10 overs.

Making a cautious start, Gambhir (43 in 41 balls) and Rahane (42 in 31 balls) steadied the innings with quick running between the wickets and posted the first 50 in 6.5 overs that included the first six of the match by Gambhir.

Though Yuvraj Singh made a promising start by lifting Afridi for a huge six of the first ball he faced, he didn't survive long to contribute enough, as he was caught by Umar Akmal off Umar Gul's ball for 10 runs in nine balls.

Dashing hopes of die-hard fans in putting up a defendable score after a fine start, middle order batsmen Virat Kali (9), captain M.S. Dhoni (1), Suresh Raina (10), Rohit Sharma (2) and Ravindra Jadeja (2) fell like ninepins in a span of five overs, leaving India reduced to 124 for 8 from 102 for 2.

For Pakistan, pacer Gul and spinner Saeed Ajmal were the most successful bowlers as they snapped up 3 for 21 runs and 2 for 25 runs respectively, with Afridi and Mohammed Irfan sharing one wicket each, while two (Gambhir and Sharma) were run out.

The second and last T20 will be played at Ahmedabad Dec 28.

  

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Comment on this article

  • ABDUL AZEEZ, ABUDHABI

    Wed, Dec 26 2012

    We need new faces like Bkumar...It is the right time to eliminate the unproductive players and young..energetic cricketers.IPL Players should be given preority in 20-20 format cricket. examples..Rayudu,Murali vijay,robin uthappa,Bisla,shikhar dhawan,VP Singh,manoj tiwari

    DisAgree Agree Reply Report Abuse

  • Roshith, Padubidri/Muscat

    Wed, Dec 26 2012

    After long time we saw Indian bowlers bowled well . We lost the match but we got one good bowler, B .Kumar bowled very well out swing and in Swing . Hope he is having good future

    DisAgree Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • ALI, MANGALORE

    Wed, Dec 26 2012

    DHONI TEAM PLAYING INSIDE POLITICIAN,MUST CHANGE THE CAPTAIN.

    DisAgree Agree Reply Report Abuse

  • Jaimini P.B., Manipal,Sharjah

    Wed, Dec 26 2012

    Dhoni must understand that Team can't win a match with 3 specialist bowlers in all format of the game. Anyway,India got new swing bowler,Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who impressed Sunil Gavaskar and Rameez Raza very much..

    DisAgree Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Ahmed, Mangalore / Doha

    Wed, Dec 26 2012

    Dinesh Poojary,

    Current indian team also looks like BJP team, with lots of infighting happening. Many camps inside the team now. Dhoni Camp, Sehwag Camp to name a few. Just like Modi Camp, Jaitley camp, BJP president camp and many more

    DisAgree [1] Agree [11] Reply Report Abuse

  • Dinesh Poojary, Kundapura/Bengaluru

    Wed, Dec 26 2012

    Current india team resembles UPA team, all are under achievers and money hungry. It is better for country to dissolve both the team.

    DisAgree [5] Agree [3] Reply Report Abuse

  • Rayan, Udupi

    Wed, Dec 26 2012

    India might have lost but yesterday cricket won. Wonderful pitch it was. This kind of pitch is need where both baters and bowlers can play equally.Orelse everytime bowlers get hammered.C now Awana his spirit is down n low.

    DisAgree Agree [5] Reply Report Abuse


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