India v Pakistan – ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches – Match Recap – Pakistan clinch 5-wicket victory
In a thrilling finish to the latest http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Twenty20 Warm-up
Match, played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, today on September 17.
The last few high-profile clashes between the two historic rivals, including a meeting during the Asia Cup in March this year, and a 2011 ICC World Cup semi-final in Mohali last year, had seen India emerge triumphant – however, Pakistan turned the tide somewhat
with the much-hyped warm-up game, recovering superbly from a few scares during the middle of their innings to ultimately claim victory.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Gul-c94604 intervened to dismiss Gambhir in the 5th over, while Sehwag
followed in the very next over, sent packing by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saeed-Ajmal-c87859 (4-0-22-2).
However, the next batsman to step up to the crease was Indian hard-hitter http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RG-Sharma-c2309 (56) put India in a dominant position, and got the team up to 172.
The partnership appeared near invincible, but Ajmal stepped in to break it up during the 19th over, and claim Sharma for his second wicket of the day.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yuvraj-Singh-c98364 (4*) was next up to bat, and accompanied Kohli to take India up to a final total of 185 by the end of 20 overs, at the expense of just 3 wickets.
Chasing 186 from 20 overs, Pakistan opened their innings with skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-Nazir-c64248 (13). Their opening stand yielded 30 runs, but was followed by a catastrophic 4th over.
Spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nasir-Jamshed-c78752 – a batsman the Men in Green were undoubtedly banking on. However, confused running
led to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jamshed-c66276 being run out on duck one delivery after Nazir’s dismissal, rounding off a devastating over.
Kamran Akmal (90 off 52) was next up to bat, but he started out slow. His partnership with the skipper lasted 51 runs, and got Pakistan up to 84, but the team received two more setbacks in the 10th over. Hafeez was dismissed by Ashwin, followed
by Pakistan’s T20 specialist http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, who was sent back to the pavilion without having managed to contribute a single run.
Kamran’s partnership with brother http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Akmal-c94595 remained fairly insipid, with both batsmen managing a combined total of just 7 runs, after which the younger brother was caught and bowled by Ashwin in the 12th over. By this point in the match, Pakistan
required 95 runs off 51 deliveries, and the Men in Green’s chances were beginning to look slim.
However, the high-pressure situation led Kamran to pick up the pace and rally the team, as he was joined in an unbeaten 95-run stand by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shoaib-Malik-c90088 (37*), with the Indian bowlers helpless in the face of the sudden assault.
Akmal struck 6 sixes and 5 fours during his unbeaten knock of 92, while Malik managed 4 boundaries in total. By the 19th over, the asking rate had been brought down to 22 required from 12 balls.
The match reached a thrilling climax in the last over, with 6 runs required from the final six balls. However, Akmal did not hesitate, smashing the first delivery from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Irfan-Pathan-c1601 for a spectacular six, which saw Pakistan home, enabling them to claim a
5-wicket victory, with 5 deliveries still remaining.
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