Mohammad Hafeez played the best innings of his Twenty20 career but Yuvraj Singh’s cameo earlier in the day – a scintillating 72 off just 36 balls, including three sixes in as many balls off Saeed Ajmal – gave the tourists needing too much under lights, falling short by just 11 runs as the series ended 1-1.
Hafeez’s decision to chase under lights raised eyebrows despite Pakistan’s convincing win in the opening Twenty20 and Yuvraj’s onslaught, when he hit seven sixes and four fours, looked to have settled the match there and then as India piled up 192 for seven off their quota. Mohammad Irfan had another brilliant outing with the ball, giving away just 20 runs off his quota but Sohail Tanvir, Ajmal and Shahid Afridi had an outing to forget, the trio being smashed for 119 off 11 overs as Yuvraj and MS Dhoni entertained the capacity crowd.
Yuvraj, who was hit full on the right toe by an Irfan Yorker, returned to pick up the wicket of Ahmed Shahzad and was named man of the match.
“In the nets, I couldn’t middle a single ball so my aim was to spend some time in the middle,” said Yuvraj after the win. “That yorker [which hit him on the boot] reminded me of Wasim Akram but that’s cricket, you got to take a few blows. We thought 160 to 170 was a good total. If Dhoni and I had stayed in the centre for longer, we could’ve scored more than what we did.”
Chasing under lights has never been Pakistan’s strong point. However, in arguably one of their better shows, the tourists started well, putting up 74 for the opening stand in just under 10 overs. However, with the asking rate touching 12 an over and Pakistan in a state of bother at 84 for two in the 11th over, Hafeez took it upon himself to script an unlikely win. He paddled the fat-bowlers, even carving them over extra-cover. The captain also swept the spinners with ease, using his feet and clearing the boundary with ease as the crowd sat back stunned.
However, after reaching his half-century off just 23 balls, Hafeez was unable to press home the advantage, perishing on the boundary after Afridi disappointed once again with the bat. Hafeez did, however, pick up the man-of-the-series award for his second half-century in as many games.
“When we were bowling, we didn’t follow the basics - we bowled short of a length,” said Hafeez. “The partnership between Dhoni and Yuvraj was the difference. In the first six overs, we played very well but in the next four, we didn’t score as much as we should have.”
The teams now head over to Chennai for the first One-Day International that takes place tomorrow.
MS Dhoni
“A lot depends on the youngsters bowling the last overs. They held their nerve nicely. They were feeling the pressure but they responded really well and executed the yorkers. When they wanted to bowl slower ones, they did that too.”
You can view a slideshow of pictures from the match here.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 29th, 2012.
COMMENTS (19)
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@Aman: lol you are one confused individual. You want to talk about honor? Try ASIAN CHAMPIONS. try world cup and t20 semi finalists. Infact, ever since this whole match fixing facade, i can only recall Pakistan losing one series to the Aussies, and that too all away from home. Do us a favor- spare us your ridiculous views in the future. What will change about india only having a handful of decent bowlers from now till tomorrow? And FYI Pakistan did almost chase 192, they might have done it had umar akmal not lost his cool. The truth is that both sides have some wonderful players who can easily turn a match on its head and this sets the stage for what will hopefully be a competitive ODI series.
In first match India made pakistan struggle with only 3 bowlers they nearly defended 130 score that was the eye opener everyone miss out. when india score 150 match was in india's pocket they went on to make 190 no way pakistan with their poor batting could have chase it. They were lucky in first match with the kind of bowling india brought in first match they should have won in 7 overs had to wait till last over. Pakistan should take the lesson even now they can give the series without playing with india accepting the defeat thus they can save their honor if they had any
Afridi should have shown some heroics !
Please Afridi retire or just go back to club cricket till you get your form back...your batting average is a joke but we keep including you for the public...Abdur Razzaq plays t20 for international teams all year surly he is more reliable as a power hitter
Fab game...wonderful hosts...loving it.
@Saved: Aman ke Asha happened :p
anyway we take defeat proudly & I watched the match till the last ball when we needed 14 from 1 ball, so you can imagine how we Pakistanis take sports over here, we don't leave the ground or switch off the TV 2 3 over's before the end, which happened in the case of Bangalore match where the Indian crowd left the stadium & showed no respect for our team. Anyway, well played team Pakistan, you guys showed your Indian counterparts how a good sportsman acts on the field irrespective of the result of the match, but unfortunately the Indian crowd stayed hostile on both the venues & Indian players were cussing during the match & also after they won it, specially how Kholi was acting like a kid & cussing our players which made me laugh actually since it was seriously immature for an international player to act like this. Bring on the ODI's, good luck Pakistan!
I found someone saying "Match amaan ke Aisha kha gye"
Very well played Pakistan.. We want this type of fight in every game it make interesting to watch all till the end. No matter we lose the match but its the beauty of the game. Don't want to see one sided matches .. it was awesome ;-)
After IstT20 Win ,Pak Captain was gifting the victory to the nation on Qaid Azam day and bragging unashamedly that he will whitewash India in this series.It is very unlikely that one can win every game.Game should be taken in sportsman spirit otherwise you unnecessarily create jingoism harmful for every one.
Hard luck,,Pakistan played well in both matches. One point I would suggest that Pakistan should avoid playing its top class bowlers esp. Saeed Ajmal in T20 matches. Saeed Ajmal is our greatest asset and this type of cricket is very destructive for him.
Ooopsss!!! The team is heading to Chennai.. Heavy rain is forecasted here.. Rain vs. Cricket ??
Good show by Pakistan but i wonder where imran farhat, younis khan and misbah ul haq will be accomodated for odis
No DISAPPOINTMENT by the RESULT of T20 series...... BECAUSE!
What? No comments yet? No match fixing allegations, slandering cricketers, bragging and excuses? No conspiracies and critiques? Waiting for the mentally ill to make their mark.
I am very pleased with Hafiz performance and overall performance of the team. A captain should lead from the front. It is very important. Pakistan really gets few opportunities to play cricket unlike Indian players who are always busy playing cricket. For Pakistan, there is room for improvement though.
No comments ........... strange eh!!