Daily Times

LAHORE: Mohammad Rizwan hammered a scintillating maiden ton as Pakistan defeated spirited South Africa by three runs in the thrilling first Twenty20 International of a three-match series at picturesque Gaddafi Stadium here on Thursday evening. Chasing victory target of 170, the Proteas could muster only 166 for the loss of six wickets in their allotted overs as the hosts’ bowlers held their nerve to complete the thrilling win. The Proteas fell short of the target in the final ball of the innings. Needing 19 to win off the last over, Bjorn Fortuin (17 not out) and Dwaine Pretorius (15 not out) managed 15 as pacer Faheem Ashraf kept South Africa down to 166. Rizwan ran out the tourists’ top-scorer Reeza Hendricks (54) in the 18th over to anchor the win. Hendricks and Janneman Malan (44) had given the visitors a solid 53-run start by the seventh over before leg-spinner Usman Qadir took two wickets in successive overs to derail South Africa. South Africa’s most experienced batsmen David Miller (six) and skipper Heinrich Klaasen (12) also failed to lift the tempo. Hendricks’s fifth Twenty20 international fifty had eight boundaries off 42 balls while Malan hit eight boundaries and a six off just 29 balls. For Pakistan, Qadir took 2-21 and fast bowler Haris Rauf finished with 2-44.

Earlier, Rizwan’s undefeated century featured six boundaries and seven sixes after South Africa won the toss and sent Pakistan in to bat. Backed by Rizwan’s brilliant 64-balls 104 not out, Pakistan reached 169-6. It was Rizwan all through Pakistan’s 20 overs of batting. Rizwan, who scored his maiden Test hundred in Pakistan’s second Test win in Rawalpindi earlier this week, added 68 for the second wicket with Haider Ali who made 21. Rizwan’s innings lifted Pakistan from a disastrous start which saw skipper and top batsman Babar Azam run out off the second ball of the match for nought. Azam hit a drive off spinner Fortuin and ran for single but the bowler hit the stumps at the non-striker end with a direct throw.

Rizwan held the innings at one end, changing gears in the 11th over when he hit three sixes off pacer Junior Dala to reach his fifty. On his way to hundred he was dropped twice on 83 and 96 but he smashed medium pacer Andile Phehlukwayo for his seventh hit over the boundary to become only the second Pakistan batsman to score a Twenty20 International hundred. Ahmed Shehzad had hit a T20I hundred for Pakistan against Bangladesh in the Twenty20 World Cup in Dhaka in 2014. Phehlukwayo was the pick of South African bowlers with 2-33. The remaining two matches will be played on Saturday and Sunday at the same venue.