Pakistan skipper Mohammed Hafeez slog-sweeps a delivery while India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni watches on during the first T20 clash between the two sides in Bengaluru, India, yesterday.
BENGALURU: Pakistan beat India by five wickets in the first of the two Twenty20 Internationals at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here yesterday.
Pakistan achieved the target of 134 with two balls to spare after skipper Mohammed Hafeez made 61 and former captain Shoaib Malik remained unbeaten on 57.
Earlier, Indian batting suffered a sensational collapse as they were restricted for a paltry 133 for nine against Pakistan.
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.
Only Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina managed double-figure scores with contributions of 10 runs each.
While Pakistan bowlers, led by off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, did a splendid job in the back 10, the Indian batsmen showed lack of application and their running between the wickets also looked sluggish.
Umar Gul was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers grabbing three for 21 after conceding 13 in his first over while Ajmal chipped in with two for 25 keeping things under check during middle overs.
The next match will be played on December 28 in Ahmedabad. Three ODIs will follow the T20 series. AGENCIES
