A long awaited series between the old rivals has finally begun with a victory of Pakistan in Bangalore. A victory on 136thbirthday anniversary of the father of the nation is received by the nation as gift. Muhammad Hafeez, the Pakistani skipper seemed a bit confused
off the field when after the toss he was unable to tell Ravi Shastri about the playing eleven. However later on, he led his team from the front on the field. Along with another Pakistan’s son and Indian son-in-law Shoaib Malik, he took Pakistan to its first ever victory in T20s against India. Pakistan and India had played three T20s before (all in world cups) and India did win all of them. The first one was decided on bowl-out (the most rubbish way to decide a tie match), the second one was famous 2007 World T20 Final and the last one was this year in Sri Lanka 2012 World T20.
India and Pakistan both introduced one debutant seamer in their T20 squads. Known as the tallest ever (7’1”) international cricketer, Muhammad Irfan (30) from Pakistan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (22) got impressive starts in International T20s.
Pakistan, after winning the toss put India into bat. Both the captains were of the opinion that the strip would provide some help to the seamers. Gambhir and Rahane provided India an extremely good start of 77 runs in 10.5 overs. However, Pakistan fought back very well to keep India restricted to just 133 for 9 in 20 overs. Muhammad Irfan was given the new ball who showed some excellence with swing and bounce. Shahid Afridi who gave away 26 runs in his 3 overs provided Pakistan the much needed first breakthrough when he got Rahane out for 42 off 31 balls, an exciting knock from a youngster. Soon after Gambhir found himself short of the crease before the fast and flat throw of Sohail Tanvir helped Kamran Akmal to dislodge the bails, India were 90 for 2 after 12.4 overs. Mr. reliable, Kohli appeared uncomfortable before the tallest Irfan, as Irfan got him out caught behind after a few dot balls. The captain Dhoni faced just 2 balls and bowled by Saeed Ajmal when Ajmal’s delivery merely brushes the off stump but enough to detach the bail. Yuvi announced his arrival at the crease in his style with a huge six over mid wicket to Shahid Afridi but only managed to score 10 of 9 and was caught by Umar Akmal off the bowling of Gul. Shoaib Malik’s brilliant direct hit sent Rohit Sharma back to pavilion for just 2 while Ravinder Jadeja and Ishant Sharma were easy pickings for Umar Gul. India finished their innings at 133 for 9 in 20 overs. Umar Gul 3 for 21 and Ajmal 2 for 21 were the main destroyers of Indian innings. Debutant Muhammad Irfan and Shahid Afridi took 1 wicket each for 25 and 26 runs respectively.
Whatever the target is, Pakistani batsmen have a habit to make the match interesting. Hence, Pakistani top order batsmen gave full respect and welcomed the debutant Bhuvneshwar Kumar to the International Cricket. Nothing taking away from Bhuvneshwar Kumar who bowled a superb spell in his first ever international T20 and took wickets of top order Pakistani batsmen on his 6th, 8th and 12th international deliveries to send Nasir, Shahzad and Umar Akmal back to dugout. The deliveries on which he bowled Nasir and Umar Akmal were treat to watch. 4 runs and a wicket an over, Pakistan were 12 for 3 in 3 overs. Muhammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik realized the situation very quickly and decided to see off the danger Bhuvneshwar Kumar without taking any risk and to target the part time bowlers Kohli and Yuvraj later on. The strategy worked well and the two managed to build a match winning partnership of 106 runs in 14.1 overs. Muhammad Hafeez played a lofted shot towards the third man boundary off the bowling of Ishant Sharma and was caught by Bhuvneshwar Kumar but not before playing a captain’s knock of 61 runs off 44 balls with the help of 6 Fours and 2 Sixes. Almost all of the boundaries of Muhammad Hafeez came in the later part of his innings which shows his maturity. Pakistan needed 16 more runs off 17 balls at that point of time. Just three balls later, Shoaib Malik tried to play an upper cut off a short ball of Ishant Sharma and was caught by Jadeja. He was walking off but the umpire called it a no-ball for its height. Full marks to the umpire for this decision as this could have changed the direction of the game. Probably mentally annoyed on this, Ishant Sharma showed his attitude on the very next ball when he tried to mess up with Kamran Akmal. Suresh Raina and umpires were trying to keep him away as he tried to come closer to Kamran at least three times. Dinda bowled a very good 19th over and gave away only 4 runs and took a wicket of Kamran Akmal who did not seem settled after the issue with Ishant Sharma in the last over. Pakistan required 10 off the last over and on the fourth ball of the over; Shoaib Malik hit a straight six over the head of the bowler Jadeja to finish the match off in favour of Pakistan.
The first thriller came to end and Pakistan is one up in the two match series. Muhammad Hafeez named man of the match for his great knock.
The reaction of the Pakistani fans on this victory is natural but they should keep in mind that still there are four international games to be played in this tour and Indian team is also a very good team who can make a comeback anytime. Therefore, the sports should be taken with the spirit of sportsman.
Hamood-ur-Rub Jaffry
Partner
Intellegal Pakistan (an IP Law firm)
Partner
Intellegal Pakistan (an IP Law firm)
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