Green-Shirts stun India in warm up T20 match

With an unbeaten 92 off 50 balls by Kamran Akmal, the Green-Shirts on Monday conquered India by 5 wickets in International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup worm up match.

Pakistan, chasing India’s commanding 185-3, appeared to be out of contention when they lost five wickets by the 12th over with just 91 runs on the board.

However, wicketkeeper Akmal and former captain Shoaib Malik turned the game around with a brilliant unbroken stand of 95 off 46 balls, guiding the Green-Shirts beat the shell-shocked Indians with five balls in hands.

Akmal slammed five six sixes and five boundaries to remain unbeaten on 92, which came from just 50 balls while Malik cracked two sixes and as many boundaries during his unbeaten bang.

For India, birthday boy Ravichandran Ashwin was the most successful bowler, scalping four wickets for 23 runs.

The Indian team had a poor outing with the ball as Zaheer Khan (0-31 off 3 overs), Irfan Pathan (0-40 off 3.1), L Balaji (0-41 off 4) and Harbhajan Singh (0-40) all came in for severe punishment from Akmal.

Earlier, Kohli celebrated his ICC ODI Player of the Year award with yet another sterling knock, while Sharma returned to form with a 40-ball 56 to power India to the challenging total.

Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal starred with the ball for Pakistan with figures of two 22 from his four overs.

Meanwhile, there were celebrations in the Pakistan camp – any victory against India means a lot to them and the public back home. The scene has now been set for the actual tournament.

With the emotions running so high in a warm-up prelude, one can only imagine the drama that would unfold at the same venue on the 30th, when ( if all goes well ) these two sides clash again in a high-voltage marquee encounter.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=32782

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Sep 17 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.