Pakistan vs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 T20 – Pakistan all out for 119; 1st innings review
Pakistan skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 won the toss and chose to bat; primarily because the pitch seemed to be batsmen friendly and also because the pitches in UAE are much similar to the ones in the sub-continent, making it easier for the Pakistani batsmen to bat on.
In a surprising move the South Africans decided to rest Jacques Kallis and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110 Steyn; Steyn said that he had not fully recovered from the injury sustained during the Champions League in September.
Even though there was no Younis Khan in the playing XI from the Pakistani side, Pakistan still went into the game with a relatively strong batting line up.
Imran Farhat was sent back to the pavilion for just 10 runs in the second over, after being caught by Graeme Smith off Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s bowling.
Tsotsobe also sent http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jean-Paul-Duminy-c66758, who ran back around 20 yards and took a nice tumbling catch. Shahzaib scored just 9 runs off 14 balls. Before Shahzaib’s dismissal, Pakistan were clearly maintaining a steady run rate.
Then Johan Botha introduced himself in action; Botha got rid of Mohammad Hafeez on the second ball of his first over. Hafeez had faced 17 balls and scored 13 runs; he was caught by Colin Ingram off Botha’s bowling. Thereon, the run rate reduced significantly.
Pakistan were 46/3 when Afridi came to the crease. The skipper nearly chipped an edge to the wicket keeper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AB-de-Villiers-c887, on the very first ball he faced, but luckily the keeper could not hold on to the ball.
Afridi was flamboyant as usual and the fact that three wickets had fallen did not seem to bother him as he raced to 13 runs off just 4 balls, while Umar Akmal was on 8 off 13 balls at the other end.
After 9 overs Pakistan were 63 for 3, for which Afridi had contributed the most. Boom Boom’s excitement got the better of him and he went after http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Johan-Botha-c67173 for 2 back to back sixes. Somebody should have told Afridi not to test his luck again, but Afridi did exactly that and tried hitting Botha for another six; this time giving a simple catch to Loots Bosman at long on. The scoreboard read 74/4 runs as Afridi departed scoring 25 off just 7 balls with the help of 3 sixes and a single four.
Misbah-ul-Haq was next to come in; South Africa by now had finally put the brakes on the Pakistani onslaught that was spearheaded by the Pakistani Skipper.
Umar Akmal was the next man to go as he was dismissed by Albie Morkel after scoring 14 runs. The scoreboard at this point was 84 for 5; clearly South Africa had now dented Pakistani hopes of scoring a big total.
Abdul Razzaq was next to walk in; Botha was clearly getting difficult for Pakistan to cope with as he clean bowled http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421 for just 4 runs in the 14th over.
Next to come was the young wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider; Zulqarnain scored just one run as he was caught by Duminy off http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Morne-Morkel-c77722’s bowling. He got half forward into the square drive, but once again, neither went decisively over the top, nor made the effort to keep it along the ground. After his departure, the Pakistanis were in deep trouble as their last recognized batting pair had walked back.
Umar Gul, and Saeed Ajmal were in next – they tried their best to support http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 but could not be of much assistance. As expected, initially Misbah was clearly not timing the ball properly; perhaps the fears of everyone were finally proving to be true that this format of the game was just not Misbah’s cup of tea.
The boundaries had completely dried out after Afridi’s departure. Umar Gul was out without troubling the scoreboard, whereas Ajmal followed in quick succession as he was run out by Miller for just 4 runs. The scoreboard now read 99/9, with fears of the whole Pakistan team being bowled out under 100 runs looming all over the ground.
Shoaib Akhtar got 3 runs on the 1st ball he faced due to a misfield, pushing the teams total to 102; the slowest 100 by Pakistan in T20 internationals thus far.
Misbah was still not timing the ball well and after spending some time on the pitch, he managed to hit two consecutive boundaries in the 19th over off the bowling of Albie Morkel.
The last over was bowled by Rusty Theron; Misbah faced the first 3 balls without scoring. However, Misbah then hit a long six on the 4th ball, using lot of bottom hand. Finally, Akhtar was run out on the penultimate ball of the final over. Misbah remained unbeaten on 27 off 32 balls, with none of the last five batsmen being able to reach double figures.
Pakistan ended their innings at 119 runs giving South Africa a target 120 to win. The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 side will now have to bowl exceptionally well if they want to restrict the South Africans in this match. Pakistan will be pinning their hopes on the likes Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar to defend such a low total.
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