Pakistan v England - 1st T20I – Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq helps Pakistan to a decent total – Match Update
Steady batting from the Pakistan skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972, and Shoaib Malik helped the Men in Green to a decent total of 144 runs against England in the first T20I being played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday, February 23, 2012.
England won the toss and their Twenty20 skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SCJ-Broad-c2465, asked Pakistan to bat first.
Pakistan’s star all-rounder, Muhammad Hafeez, opened the innings with Awais Zia, who was making his T20 debut for Pakistan. For England, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ST-Finn-c2566 and Jade Dernbach opened the attack.
Zia, domestically known as “mini Boom Boom”, showed his aggressive nature from the very first ball that he faced. The left-handed batsman lashed out at Finn in his first over - which fetched eight runs.
Hafeez joined in on the party and smashed two boundaries of Dernbach’s over. Pakistan was looking good after two overs with 17 runs on board without losing a wicket.
The third over started well for the Men in Green as well, as Zia pulled Finn for a massive six over fine leg. However, it was not long before Finn took revenge, as he dismissed Zia (18) on the penultimate delivery of third over, and brought an end to an
opening partnership of 32 runs.
Hafeez (23) and Asad Shafiq (19) did not let the momentum dip and put on another 33 runs for the second wicket. A controversial run-out decision by third umpire, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shafiq-c89281.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501 was the curator of all those wickets.
The Green Shirts were in dire need for a solid partnership, which was provided by Misbah (26*) and Malik (39). The two veteran cricketers hung in there and slowly but steadily powered Pakistan to 144 runs with a stand of 71 runs. Malik was the last man to
be dismissed on the final delivery of Pakistan’s inning.
Pakistan playing XI:
1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Awais Zia 3 Asad Shafiq, 4 Umar Akmal (wk), 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), 6 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Junaid-Khan-c77037
England playing XI:
1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Samit-Patel-c2426, 8 Broad (captain), 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Jade Dernbach, 11 Steven Finn
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