The win in Bangalore yesterday was Pakistan’s first ever Twenty20 triumph over archrivals India. PHOTO: BCCI
Pakistan beat India by five wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore yesterday in a nerve-wracking contest to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match Twenty20 series.
Captain Mohammad Hafeez was the top-scorer with 61 off 44 balls, and was deservedly named man of the match. But it was Shoaib Malik (57), who hit the winning six when Pakistan needed six off four balls, chasing a target of 134.
The start of the greenshirts’ innings was shaky as openers Nasir Jamshed (2) and Ahmed Shehzad (5) fell to fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar early. But Hafeez and Malik steadied the faltering batting order and contributed admirably to help Pakistan win their first ever Twenty20 against India.
Hafeez praised his team’s bowling attack and said their efforts restricted India to a gettable score.
It’s a gift for the nation: Hafeez
“It is a great effort, we wanted to do well at the start of the series,” said Hafeez. “Irfan was the surprise package for us and everybody. We knew that we had a good attack. We knew that Gul is always good with the old ball, they restricted India where we wanted them to. Once the spinners came on after the new ball, we knew we had a chance, we took a risk at the right time. It is a gift for the whole nation, it is Quaid’s day back home.”
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he had hoped to score more runs.
“We got a good start by the openers,” said Dhoni. “We kept losing wickets after that, 10 or 15 more runs we should have got easily. 145 would have been a safe score.”
Malik said it was all about handling pressure.
“We were struggling when the debutant bowler took those early wickets,” said Malik. “Hafeez played a brilliant innings. You are playing against India, pressure is always there, but you have to play according to the situation. [When asked whether one member of his family won’t be happy] I scored runs, obviously everyone will be happy.”
Earlier, India started their innings well with openers Gautam Gambhir (43) and Ajinkya Rahane (42) managing to keep the towering Mohammad Irfan at bay. Shahid Afridi eventually broke the partnership when he dismissed Rahane. Gambhir soon followed after he was run-out.
Yuvraj Singh (10) then joined Virat Kohli on the pitch and struck his trademark six on the very first ball. Kohli tried to keep up but fell victim to Irfan, handing the bowler his first international cricket wicket.
It was all downhill for India after skipper Dhoni became the next player to be dismissed at 108. The home side lost five wickets in quick succession before the innings ended at 133 for nine.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 26th, 2012.
COMMENTS (36)
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@Raj - USA: apologies. take my words back.
@Usman. Yes I agree with you. Something is definitely fishy. The kinds of shots Hafeez and Malik and then Akmal started playing at that point clearly suggests something was not right. I would be more suspicious if India win the next game as that would make it 1-1 raising the anticipation and the ratings for the ODI series.
@Prakash: and what about the culprits of smjhoota express killings ? stick to the topic if you come here otherwise spew your hate in your own websites, see you Indians can't even tolerate a defeat in a cricket match lol
@True Picture: Yes Ajmal Kasab should have also got respect.
India is highly over rated team. Pakistan should seal the other matches as well. 2-0 in 20-20 and 2-1 victory to Pak in Odis
Shohib mallik totally deserves his spot in the team........can't say the same for afridi
@roadkashehzada: It was just for fun. There were only two team and can only be 1st or 2nd. India lost and came 2nd, Pakistan won and came 1st. or last but one. It is neither bashing India or Pakistan. I am not bashing any team. It is a game that should be played and enjoyed.
@Usman is right (in video you can clearly hear ramiz raja talk to some one in background and asking for exact equation ).
In my opinion these days all matches are fixed between boards , and players are not allowed to fix on there own. thats why three pakistani player were band as they by pass the board.
In past I personally fell that commentators know some thing more then expert opnion. and they give there remarks as experts (for beters to go for the bet). (Example they tell you the final first inning score , scoring rate etc).
Game becomes commercial and board and ICC earns with it. ( they plan and know what to do)
@Hassan: When u hate everything representing India/Indians why do you keep asking for Pakistanis to be included in INDIAN premier league?
@Hassan: When u hate everything representing India/Indians why do you keep asking for Pakistanis to be included in INDIAN premier league?
@Yoghurt lover: Just listen to clips when Pakistan score was 110/3, drinks brake, score chart was being shown, rameez talk to someone in the background in urdu, just listen to it and let us know, i don't make any assumption, just check yourself. Youtube is blocked in Pakistan so my link might not work, if you have some other link to match, go for it and check yourself and let me know what do you think.
@Usman
Is what you have written, your own assessment or you heard someone talk about it on some TV channel?
Well played team Pakistan !!!! Watch out team India, this time around we are not giving away any matches for the so called aman ke asha ;) The Indian crowd showed least amount of respect for the Pakistani players, had it been India playing like this in Pakistan the crowd would have given respect to them, like we do whenever India comes to Pakistan. Even Ishant lacked the sportsman spirit, that lad needs to learn some manners. Big nation indeed but it needs to learn to be open hearted & give some respect to its guests, I hope things will be different in Ahmedabad.
India with this bowling attack never be safe even against Afghanistan even after scoring 200 in 20 overs . Bad team sections by India and well played by Pakistan .
Excellent and august performance showed by Pakistan in the first T20 against India and well done Pakistan team.Keep it up.Congratulations.....
@sensible: Kindly, listen to rameez at 1:04:11 in the above mentioned link and let me know what do you think :)
@Yoghurt lover: Ammir , butt and asif were not charged for losing the match, have you forgot.
I donot blame them that match was fixed but if the match was not fixed then Rameez Raja is a najoomi as he can predict the future :) Don't accept my words just listen at 1:04:11 when Pakistan score was 110/3 what he was saying to someone in the background :)
For you people, if someone don't agree with your point of view, you blame them conspiracy theorist without checking the truth yourself :)
@Raj - USA: not getting your comment. r u bashing pakistan or india? i read it "a notch above the last team has beaten world 2nd best team"
@Yoghurt lover: I am saying nothing, just go the video and listen yourself what is rameez saying?
The Pakistani nation salutes its cricket team, for giving a very befitting victory gift to the nation, on the eve of the 136th birthday anniversary of the father and the founder of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Sahab.
This is not an ordinary T20 win. Rather, its the 1st T20 victory ever, against India. And the icing on the cake is, that it was achieved on Indian soil.
The gist of the victory can be found in the excellent leadership of the captain Muhammad Hafeez, who led the team by example and from the front. Bowling was up-to the mark with bare minimum extras. However, the fielding was exceptionally improved, with three direct run outs.
However, the batting failures of Nasir Jamshed, Ahmad Shahzad, Umar Akmal and Kamran Akmal needs immediate attention of the team management and the PCB.
In the end, I will repeat that victory has many fathers (which hides all the weaknesses) and defeat is an orphan (which turns even positives into negatives). As such, our team must not sit on its laurels of Today's win. Rather, it should concentrate to overcome the short comings of this match, to focus on a clean sweep during the Indian tour.
Last but not the least, the team management and the PCB must ensure to immediately work for improving the very low fitness levels of Nasir Jamshed, Shoaib Malik, Suhail Tanvir and Kamran Akmal.
Best of luck to the Pakistani cricket team, its management and the PCB.
A great win for Pakistan in a tough contest. What was the total score of Akmal brothers? The difference between the teams was Pakistan had specialist spinners/bowlers while India brought in part timers.
@Usman
Are you suggesting that Pakistani cricketing team took money to fix the match and then accidentally won the match?
Because the wickets you are referring to are Pakistani wickets and not Indian.
The sixer hit by Shuaib surprised us all and brought back memories of Miandad hitting a six in Sharjah. Pakistan played surprisingly well. The act of sledging by Ishante that ultimately brought Kamran back to the pavilion, must be discouraged by the cricket authorities. Salams
Also logically, the match cannot have been fixed.
You can fix a match only making someone to lose. You cannot pay someone to win.
And you can fix a match only by paying a corrupt team.
But in this case, the honest team lost. So, by deductive logic, the match is not fixed.
My god Pakistanis, get a life.
Your team won. Enjoy the moment instead of tarnishing with absurd conspiracy theories.
India lost and yet we are not complaining of a fixed match.
to all those pleading that match was fixed should be ashamed of themselves.After a long time Pak-Ind are playing eachother, so please don't spoil the game with your ugly and mindless conspricy theories.
This was a Christmas Gift from Team Pakistan for me. I hope we win both T-20 and one day series against India. B. Kumar (bowler) from India was a treat to watch. A very good find who holds good future and so was our Tall Man Irfan who also showed that he can now become part of Pakistan team in any format of the game.
Now be careful about what you drink in your hotel ;-)
Pakistan has fixed some matches in the history but they never win when the fix a match. Green has never fixed a match to WIN. They want money, would never give money. India should accept the DEFEAT now. A very awesome streak in going on the ground. 1st Pakistan Beat India in Blind Cricket 2nd Pakistan Beat India in Musical Program (Sur Kshetra) And now the Cricket matches where Pakistan doesn't even has a single audience. Go Green Go!
Was match fixed? If not than rameez raja must be najoomi to predict the future
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBpTyc_pILo
Listen at time 1:04:11, scorecard Pakistan was on 110/3 Rameez raja was saying to someone, 2 wickateen girneen wali han bs, and soon after than 2 wickets went down.
Check it out
This match looks fixed. How suspicously the whole batting collapsed, ICC is urged to look into it. Looks like bookies made a killing today
CONGRATZ TO ALL PAKISTANIS !!! IT SURELY IS AN AWESOME FEELING OF DEFEATING INDIANS AFTER SUCH A LOOONG TYME!! THANK YOU ALLAH FOR HEARING OUR PRAYERS:)
Congrats TEAM PAKISTAN.
So far in this series, India is still 2nd best team from the top whereas Pakistan is just a notch above the last.
Congratulations to the Pakistan Team.
Pakistan dominated the whole match, there was a slight disturbance in the flight but in the end the victory was easily achieved.
Huge question mark for Indian batting as they've been playing regular international cricket and still getting thumped by a Lack-Luster Team deprived of international cricket for so many years.