series against India, here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, on Tuesday, December 25, 2012.
After restricting the hosts to just 133 for 9 in their stipulated twenty overs, the Men in Green were reeling at 12 for 3 at the end of the third over of their chase, with Nasir Jamshed (2), Ahmed Shehzad (5) and Umar Akmal (0) all back in the dugout after falling to debutant pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3 for 9 from four overs).
Captain Hafeez and Shoaib Malik buckled down to add 106 runs to the scorecard for the fourth wicket stand, and put the side back on track. Hafeez smashed six fours and two sixes in his 44-ball 61, before being caught by Kumar off Ishant Sharma in the 18th over, to leave with Pakistan still needing 16 runs to win from 17 balls. Malik continued the assault and took the tourists home with a lofty six off Ravindra Jadeja on the third last ball of the match, with five wickets to spare.
While speaking to media reporters on the sidelines of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium after Pakistan’s comprehensive five-wicket win over India, Malik said that he just played according to the situation.
“Hafeez played a brilliant innings,” said Malik, who returned unbeaten on 57. “When you are playing against India, pressure is always there. I played according to the situation as we were struggling against that debutant (Bhuvneshwar),” he added further.
On a cheeky note, when he was asked whether his wife Sania Mirza – an Indian tennis star – would be happy with Pakistan’s win, Malik replied with a smile, "I scored runs. Obviously, everyone will be happy."
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni also lauded the Hafeez-Malik duo for playing well under pressure situation and take the side home. He was, however, not very happy with the way his batsmen got out earlier in the match.
"The batsmen got out trying to play big shots. We could have easily scored 200 if we had applied ourselves," lamented the wicketkeeper batsman at the post-match press conference.
The second T20I will be played in Ahmedabad on Friday, which will be followed by three One Day Internationals in Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi.
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