World T20 as it happened: Gul, Akmal lead Pak to stunning win

Pakistan 136-8 after 19.4 overs Akmal 43*, Ajmal 4* Thay’ve done it! Morkel finds Ajmal’s edge but it’s run away past the wicket-keeper and to the ropes to hand Pakistan a memorable win against South Africa. Pakistan may have thought 134 was an easy target but their opponents were not giving up. From 76-7, some audacious batting from Umar Gul and Umar Akmal see Pakistan through. WICKET! Pakistan 125-8 after 19 overs Umar Gul c Peterson b Steyn 32 (17b, 2x4, 3x6) Gone! Umar Gul, after slamming two fours and three sixes in a heroic innings has lost his wicket after he was taken at deep extra-cover. Pakistan need nine from the last over. Pakistan 112-7 after 17 overs Gul 26, Akmal 30 Suddenly, and out of nowhere, Umar Gul has hammered three sixes and a four in the last two overs to take Pakistan to touching distance of a win! This is cricket at it’s most unpredictable. Umar Akmal is giving good support on the other end. WICKET! Pakistan 76-7 after 14.3 overs Yasir Arafat c Duminy b Steyn 3 (5b, 0x4, 0x6) What a catch! Duminy is at short mid-wicket when Steyn’s short delivery loops off Arafat’s bat and he dives in to collect it cleanly. Pakistan are folding. WICKETS! Pakistan 63-6 after 12.1 overs Shoaib Malik c Steyn b Kallis 12 (26b, 1x4, 0x6) Shahid Afridi c JA Morkel b Duminy 0 (1b, 0x4, 0x6) What a slide this is… what a slide. Pakistan are sliding rapidly as they lose Malika and Afridi in the space of just three balls. Malik hits one straight to third-man and Afridi does the same— to long-off. Easy for SA. Pakistan 55-4 after 10 overs Malik 10, Akmal 11 Umar Akmal loves the leg-side. He’s picked up two Botha deliveries and whacks them past the packed on-side field for two fours. Apart from that, Pakistan are pretty much scoring at the same rate as South Africa were. WICKET! Pakistan 37-4 after 6.2 overs Kamran Akmal b Botha 1 (6b, 0x4, 0x6) Bowled him! is the shout as Botha’s quicker one fools Akmal and smacks his off-stump. This is turning out to be a bowler’s match. No doubt about that and the fact that Pakistan are struggling. WICKETS! Pakistan 31-3 after 4 overs Mohammad Hafeez st De Villiers b Peterson 15 (9b, 2x4, 1x6) Nasir Jamshed st De Villiers b Peterson 0 (2b, 0x4, 0x6) Woah!! That is how a T20 match can turn on its head. Two stumpings in the space of five deliveries have resulted in Hafeez and Jamshed both being foxed and getting stumped in the process. Peterson mixing it around very well. Pressure on Pakistan now! WICKET! Pakistan 24-1 after 3 overs Imran Nazir c de Villiers b Steyn 14 (11b, 3x4, 0x6) Big wicket for SA. Nazir was going for every ball and hooks at a shorter delivery from Steyn. The ball kisses his gloves before De Villiers takes the catch. Pakistan 20-0 after 2 overs Hafeez 9, Nazir 10 OK, now we can say Pakistan are off to a flyer! Nazir has piled on two more boundaries and if things go this way, then we should see a quick end to this match. [caption id=“attachment_472713” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Pakistan 9-0 after 1 over Hafeez 8, Nazir 0 Not quite off to a flyer, but they’re off to a fine start. Pakistan off the blocks early with two cracking boundaries from Hafeez… the first of which raced through the covers. PAKISTAN COME OUT TO BAT South Africa 133-6 after 20 overs Morkel 9*, Peterson 3* No late fireworks from SA. The last over sees just one boundary as Morkel slams one past mid-off. Pakistan’s bowlers have ensured that they shackle the Proteas to a total should be easily chased down. “Very happy with what SA have scored,” chirps Saeed Ajmal at the end of that innings. WICKET! South Africa 123-6 after 18.4 overs JP Duminy c Kamran Akmal b Yasir Arafat 48 (38b, 2x4, 2x6) That’s the softest of dismissals. Duminy, clearly getting impatient, swings at the ball and gets a faint edge to Akmal. He smashed a six just moments before and has lost his wicket in the quest for another one. WICKET! South Africa 110-5 after 17.2 overs AB de Villiers c Imran Nazir b Umar Gul 25 (18b, 2x4, 1x6) Full-toss from Gul and De Villers goes for the big shot, just manages to slice it and gets caught at sweeper. Good innings from him though, after coming in to bat at a time when Pakistan were tightening the noose. South Africa 92-4 after 16 overs De Villiers 12, Duminy 32 Finally some runs for SA, but they’re still way short of what they should be aiming for. Duminy and De Villiers have both scored a boundary each in the searing heat in Colombo, but they need more of that. Still no Umar Gul introduced by Hafeez. With so many top spinners around, does he need to? WICKET! South Africa 66-4 after 12.3 overs Farhaan Behardien st Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Hafeez 18 (21b, 2x4, 0x6) JP Duminy first takes the risk and executes his big shot perfectly against Hafeez. Behardien tries to do the same, misses and Kamran Akmal has the bails of in the blink of an eye. AB De Villiers in next… so we can expect a few more big hits if SA are to make a match of this. South Africa 47-3 after 10 overs Behardien 12, Duminy 7 Finally a boundary! Shahid Afridi did very well in the first five balls of the 10th over, but just drifts towards the leg side on his last delivery and Behardien has shuffled it off his pads for four. Umar Gul’s dive didn’t help. South Africa 35-3 after 8 overs Behardien 4, Duminy 3 Pakistan are playing to their strengths and SA’s batsmen have no answer to it. With eight overs gone, all they’ve managed are two fours and a six. It’s only ones and twos and this is more a test of patience and technique than raw power T20 cricket. WICKET! South Africa 28-3 after 6.1 overs Jacques Kallis c Shahid Afridi b Mohammad Hafeez 12 (18b, 0x4, 1x6) South Africa in deep deep trouble! Hafeez strikes as Kallis helplessly scoops it to short extra-cover. Afridi exults… Pakistan are on a roll. WICKET! South Africa 28-2 after 5.2 overs Richard Levi b Ajmal 8 (9b, 1x4, 0x6) Ajmal comes on and what a first ball! Kallis sweeps and it comes off his pad and it was a mighty close LBW shout… but then the second ball is even better. Levi attempts a clever reverse sweep but Ajmal is cleverer as Levi soon finds his bails are gone. What a delivery… bowled between the legs. South Africa 18-1 after 4 overs Levi 7, Kallis 4 Raza Hasan is the man of the moment. After a great first over, he has bowled a maiden 3rd and SA are already under pressure. Excellent bowling. Kallis then skies one off Arafat and it’s just fallen short of a back-tracking Afridi. [caption id=“attachment_472492” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Amla failed to give SA a good start. Reuters[/caption] WICKET! South Africa 8-1 after 1.5 overs Hashim Amla c Shoaib Malik b Yasir Arafat 6 (6b, 1x4, 0x6) Tell you what! This is a big blow! Shoaib Malik, left red-faced after his fielding gaffe allowed a boundary to Amla has taken a fine catch in the covers as the South African’s uppish drive has done him in. South Africa 3-0 after 1 over Amla 2, Levi 1 Raza Hasan keeps it tight in the first over. Amla, who likes to adjust a bit before hammering the shots takes his time as Levi looks in no hurry too. South Africa won the toss and will bat first Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat, Raza Hasan, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal South Africa: RE Levi, HM Amla, JH Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, F Behardien, JA Morkel, J Botha, RJ Peterson, DW Steyn, M Morkel