BANGALORE – In the 1st T20 of the series Pakistan snatched the thrill knock out India Skipper Muhammad Hafeez (61) and former captain Shoaib Malik (57 not out) put on a brilliant 106-run stand to help Pakistan beat India by five wickets in the first T20 International at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday.
Shoaib Malik hit a six off the fourth ball of the final over to win the low-scoring thriller for the visitors. Malik played a mature innings off 50 balls which included three maximums and three boundaries. Chasing a modest 134-run target set by the hosts, Pakistani batsmen started their innings on the wrong foot as they lost three top-order batsmen inside three overs for just 12 runs on the board.After losing three wickets early in their chase, Hafeez and Malik rescued Pakistan with an impressive century partnership for the fourth wicket before pacer Ishant Sharma got better of Pakistan skipper in the eighteenth over. Debutant Bhuvneshwar Kumar ripped apart Pakistan’s top order with his triple strike to give India a perfect start.
Kumar bowled out Nasir Jamshed, got Ahmed Shehzad caught behind and then sent back Umar Akmal to reduce Pakistan to 12/3 in three overs. Earlier, Indian batting suffered a sensational collapse as they were restricted for a paltry total of 133/9 despite a terrific start. Put into bat, Indian openers Ajinkya Rahane and Gautam Gambhir made a solid start putting on 77 for the first wicket but everything went haywire from then on as they lost nine wickets for an addition of 47 runs. Such was the plight of Indian batting that save Gambhir who scored 43 and Rahane who smashed 42 off 31 balls, all the other frontline batsmen failed miserably.
Umar Gul was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers grabbing three for 21 after conceding 13 in his first over while Saeed Ajmal chipped in with two for 25 keeping things under check during middle overs.
