India v Pakistan – 1st T20I – Match Recap – Hafeez, Malik power Pakistan to 5-wicket win
In their first bilateral match since 2007, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and India faced off for the first of two T20Is, played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on December 25, and the visitors walked off victorious, after half-tons from skipper Mohammad Hafeez and
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shoaib-Malik-c90088 propelled them to a 5-wicket win – their first in T20Is against India.
Playing in front of a massive 36,000-strong crowd, the tourists won the toss and chose to field first. Openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajinkya-Rahane-c970 (42) got the team off to a solid start, and for the first 11 overs, Pakistan were unable to penetrate the
opening partnership, which swelled to 77. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 (3-0-26-1) finally got the Men in Green their first breakthrough, sending Rahane packing (caught out by Umar Akmal).
Gambhir followed him two overs later, dismissed via run out, and from there onwards, the Indian team underwent an abrupt and shocking batting order collapse, with the batsmen failing to build on the solid foundation laid down by the openers. Making his T20I
debut, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’s top order was taken care of.
However, the middle order failed to put up a solid defence, and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saeed-Ajmal-c87859 (4-0-25-2) joined forces to take out the remaining batsmen. No sooner had Kohli been sent back to the pavilion that Ajmal swept in to take Indian skipper
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 out on 1 in the very next over.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Akmal-c94595 at deep midwicket 17th over. At 115 for 5, the hosts looked to be in a tight spot, but the debacle
was far from over. The 18th over resulted in the dismissals of both http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RG-Sharma-c2309 (2) – the former bowled by Ajmal, and the latter run out by Shoaib Malik, who sent the right-hander packing with a direct hit.
The 19th over was equally devastating, as Gul, thriving on the seam-friendly surface, snapped up both http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashok-Dinda-c1098 (3*)
at the crease, the Indian team posted a middling final total of 133.
Unlike India’s innings, Pakistan’s turn at bat did not get off to a promising start. Debutant http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nasir-Jamshed-c78752 (2) was dismissed in the
very first over by Kumar, and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ahmed-Shehzad-c42359 (5) and Umar Akmal (0) followed soon afterwards, both falling prey to Kumar in the third over.
Veterans http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 (61 off 44) and Shoaib Malik (57* off 50), however, orchestrated a massive turnaround, and set up Pakistan’s record highest fourth-wicket T20I stand (as well as the third highest by any team) – a 106-run partnership, which took the
team total from 12 to 118. Player of the Match Hafeez led from the front with a composed half-century, while Malik played an enterprising innings to put the team back on track.
The 18th over saw Ishant Sharma (4-0-23-1) claiming the crucial wicket of Hafeez, and for a moment Pakistan looked to be in trouble. The visitors suffered a brief scare three deliveries after the departure of Hafeez, with Malik caught out by Jadeja
off Sharma – however, it was deemed a no-ball on account of height, and Malik soldiered on.
Pakistan lost another wicket when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kamran-Akmal-c70122 (1) made a swift exit at the hands of Ashok Dinda (4-0-26-1), but Malik remained firm all this while. Joined by Shahid Afridi (3*), Malik stood up to the challenge of getting 10 runs off the last over. Having
taken four off the first three deliveries, the fourth ball saw Malik smashing Jadeja for six, and bringing the game to a spectacular finish, with 5 wickets and 2 balls remaining.
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