166/6 (20.0)
CR : 8.30
169/6 (20.0)
CR : 8.45
Pakistan won by 3 runs
Player of the Match
Mohammad Rizwan
104(64)
Arijit: Six of the last ball is what is required!!! So we have headed to a last ball thriller here at the Gaddafi
19.6
2
Faheem Ashraf to Bjorn Fortuin
FOUR!!! South Africa fall short!!! Full length ball down the leg side and the Fortuin smashes it to deep square leg but will get only 2 runs. The fielder does well to intercept it and keep it to just 2 runs. Pakistan win the 1st T20!!!
Over 20.0
South Africa 166/6
Bjorn Fortuin17(9)
Dwaine Pretorius15(6)
Faheem Ashraf1-37(3.0)
Sourya: This was a classic T20 humdinger that went down to the wire, literally. South Africa needed 6 off the last ball, with Bjorn Fortuin having hit a clever ramp shot to the boundary off the penultimate ball to keep them in the chase. In the end though, he just couldn't clear the ropes as Pakistan got home by three runs in the first T20I here in Lahore.
Sourya: Sent in to bat, the hosts were powered by a stylish and responsible innings by opener Mohammed Rizwan who hit 104 of 64 deliveries, an innings studded with 7 sixes. Some of those sixes were both audacious and aesthetic as he mixed power and brilliant hand eye coordination to really accelerate in the second half of the innings following a cautious start.
Sourya: With talisman Babar Azam out through a great run out by the bowler Fortuin, that innings by Rizwan was necessary to say the least. He became the second Pakistani after Ahmed Shehzad to score a T20I century and took Pakistan to a very competitive 169/6. Some others got starts but never kicked on. For the greenhorn visitors, chinaman Tabraiz Shamsi was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 1/20. Phehlukwayo also got two wickets but they did conceed more than they would have liked.
Sourya: For a while, Janneman Malan, who opened the batting, was making it look easy and helping South Africa cruise with his power hitting, but then leggie Usman Qadir, son of the legendary Abdul, bowled a peach to get his bowled. His opening partner Reeza Hendricks hit a half century and was there for a long time but got into a mess and run out at absolutely the wrong moment as South Africa began falling behind in the chase. The run-out was effected by great work from the centurion keeper Rizwan
Sourya: It did go down to the last over and South Africa were in it till the end, but in the end, the home team bowlers Fahim Ashram, Shaheen Afridi and co. managed to defend the runs their batsmen had put up on the board to go up 1-0 in the series.
Here is what Usman Qadir said "I wanted to bowl dot balls and put pressure on the batsmen. There was some dew on the surface, but we did manage to keep the run-rate down. I was told to bowl slower through the air not to push through and that's exactly what I managed to do."
Sourya: So Pakistan scrape through after a scare in a classic here and the South Africans have shown they are here to fight. It is time for me, Sourya Chowdhury, to sign off along with my fellow commentators Nikhil Kulkarni and Arijit Kundu. Good night.