Skipper M Hafeez (61) and Shoaib Malik (57 not out) put on a brilliant 106-run stand to help Pakistan beat India by five wickets in the first T20 International at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday.

Malik hit a six off the fourth ball of the final over to win the low-scoring thriller for the visitors with two balls to spare. Malik played a mature innings off 50 balls which included three maximums and three boundaries. Chasing a modest 134-run target, Pakistan started their innings on the wrong foot as they lost three top-order batsmen inside three overs for just 12 runs.

After losing three wickets early in their chase, Hafeez and Malik rescued Pakistan with an impressive century partnership for the fourth wicket before pacer Ishant Sharma got better of Pakistan skipper in the eighteenth over.

Debutant Bhuvneshwar Kumar ripped apart Pakistan’s top order with his triple strike to give India a perfect start. Kumar bowled out Nasir Jamshed, got Ahmed Shehzad caught behind and then sent back Umar Akmal to reduce Pakistan to 12/3 in three overs in their chase of 134. Earlier, Indian batting suffered a sensational collapse as they were restricted for a paltry total of 133/9 despite a terrific start. 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 was also pretty poor. 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.

However, India had started on a positive note with Rahane taking on tallest international cricketer Mohammed Irfan (7 feet 1 inch) and Sohail Tanveer with consumate ease. Gambhir was a bit scratchy at the other end as he found it difficult to get going. The shot of the Indian innings was Rahane’s six over extra cover off Ajmal’s delivery. After settling down, Gambhir also hit Gul for a six over mid-wicket.

It was Shahid Afridi who gave Pakistan the first breakthrough when Rahane tried to repeat the lofted shot over extra cover only to be holed out by Umar Akmal at long-on. India’s slide started after this first wicket.

Gambhir who was just looking good for a big score then failed to make it for a second run after he had run the first one slowly. Yuvraj Singh started with a big heave over deep mid-wicket that went for a six while Kohli also helped himself to a boundary off Hafeez’s bowling.

Irfan came back for his final over and Kohli found the awkward bounce generated by Irfan difficult to handle and was caught behind to a rising delivery. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was fooled an Ajmal delivery that turned a shade to kiss the side of the off-stump.

From 77/0, India were 108 for four and soon it became 115 for five with Yuvraj being caught in the deep. Raina became Ajmal’s second victim as his leg-stump was uprooted. Rohit Sharma was out by a brilliant direct throw from Shoaib Malik while Ravindra Jadeja was beaten for pace and bounce by Umar Gul as he was caught behind. Ishant Sharma was yorked and suddenly India were 124 for nine.

INDIA:

G Gambhir run out    43

A Rahane c Umar Akmal b Afridi     42

V Kohli c Kamran Akmal b Irfan    9

Yuvraj Singh c Umar Akmal b Gul    10

MS Dhoni b Ajmal    1

S Raina b Ajmal    10

R Sharma run out    2

R Jadeja c Kamran Akmal b Gul    2

B Kumar not out    6

I Sharma b Gul    0

A Dinda not out    3

EXTRAS: (lb 2, w 3)    5

TOTAL: (9 wickets; 20 overs)    133

FOW: 1-77, 2-90, 3-103, 4-108, 5-115, 6-122, 7-123, 8-124, 9-124

BOWLING: M Irfan 4-0-25-1, Sohail Tanvir 4-0-22-0, Umar Gul 3-0-21-3, Saeed Ajmal 4-0-25-2, Shahid Afridi 3-0-26-1, M Hafeez 2-0-12-0

PAKISTAN:

Nasir Jamshed b Kumar    2

Ahmed Shehzad c Dhoni b Kumar    5

M Hafeez c Kumar b I Sharma    61

Umar Akmal b Kumar    0

Shoaib Malik not out    57

Kamran Akmal c I Sharma b Dinda    1

Shahid Afridi not out    3

EXTRAS: (lb 1, w 3, nb 1)    5

TOTAL: (5 wickets; 19.4 overs)    134

FOW: 1-2, 2-11, 3-12, 4-118, 5-123

BOWLING: B Kumar 4-0-9-3, AB Dinda 4-0-26-1-, I Sharma 4-0-23-1, V Kohli-2-0-21-0, Yuvraj Singh 3-0-25-0, R Jadeja 2.4-0-29-0

TOSS: Pakistan

MAN OF THE MATCH: M Hafeez (Pak)

UMPIRES: S Ravi, C Shamsuddin

TV UMPIRE: VA Kulkarni

MATCH REFEREE: R Mahanama (SL)