Pakistan beat South Africa by 2 wickets

Umar Gul turned with bat as Pakistan recover from the middle order collapse to beat South Africa by two wickets in the Super Eights of the ICC World Twenty20 in Colombo on Friday.

Pakistan chasing South Africa's 133 for 6, And collapsed to 76 for 7 in the 15th over. Umar Akmal and Umar Gul added 49 runs for the 8 wicket.Umar Gul made 32 off just 17 balls and it consists of two fours and three sixes. 

A nine required from last over Umar Akmal smashed six and saeed ajmal boundry helped to chase the target comfortably. Pakistan ended the Innings with 136 for 8 in 19.4 overs.

In the Earlier, Pakistan spinners bowled well against agressive South African batsmans. JP Duminy top scorer with 48 runs from 38 bals and AB de Villiers made 25. South Africa post 133 for 6 in 20 overs. Umar Gul named as the Man of the Match.

Asia Cup: Pakistan survive Bangladesh scare

Mirpur: Pakistan survived a scare before pulling off a nervy 21-run victory over a spirited Bangladesh in the thrilling opening match of Asia Cup, here on Sunday.

Chasing 263 to win, Bangladesh were reeling at 135 for five at one stage but Shakib Al Hasan (64) and Nasir Hossain (47) raised the hopes of a stunning win with their 89-run stand for the sixth wicket.

However, the hosts lacked the batting firepower in the end to be all out for 241 in 48.1 overs at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.

Nevertheless, the hosts gave a good account of themselves and served a warning to other teams that they cannot be taken lightly in the tournament.

Shakib and Nasir were going great guns as the team needed 68 off the last 10 overs but Pakistan paceman Umar Gul (3/58) broke the partnership by bowling Nasir in the 44th over after conceding two consecutive boundaries.

Shakib was still fighting from one end but ran short of partners. Shakib was the last man out, bowled by Gul in the first ball of the 49th over.

Pakistan scored 262 for eight after Mohammed Hafeez top-scored with a patient 89 and shared a 135-run stand with fellow opener Nasir Jamshed (54).

Apart from Hafeez and Jamshed's brilliant batting it was Gul's strokeful unbeaten 39 towards the end that lifted Pakistan to a respectable total.

Shahdat Hossain (3/53) and Shakib Al Hasan (2/41) shared five wickets between them to help Bangladesh restrict Pakistani players, who were scoring briskly till the 30 overs.

Pakistan rode on spin trio of Hafeez (2/40), Saeed Ajmal (2/45) and Shahid Afridi's (2/49) brilliant bowling to open their campaign with a win.

Bangladesh's chase was guided by opener Tamim Iqbal's crafty 64 but the hosts could not make the best use of his innings. Iqbal along with opener Nazimuddin (30) and Jahurul Islam (23) shared two 45-run stands each for the first and second wickets.

Hafeez struck twice in two balls in the 29th over as he bowled Iqbal in the third ball and trapped Mahmudullah in the next to reduce Bangaldesh to 135 for five.

Shakib then joined hands with Nasir to take the fight to Pakistan. They made good use of third powerplay to set the tone for a close finish.

Earlier, Hafeez and Jamshed had laid the foundation by putting on 135 runs for the first wicket in just 28 overs but Shahdat Hossain (3/53) and Shakib Al Hasan (2/41) struck at crucial moments to help the hosts fight back into the match.

But Gul, somewhat, spoilt Bangladesh's plans with a brisk 39 off 25 balls.

Hoping that the pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium would offer some assistance to his seamers early on, Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim elected to field after the coin landed in his favour.

Jamshed was the more aggressive of the two as he found the fence five times, besides hitting a six. Hafeez was content to rotate the strike while hitting the occasional boundaries.

Bangladesh then made a spirited fightback and the breakthrough they needed, came in the form of Jamshed's wicket in the 28th over, when Mushfiqur ran the batsman out after receiving a throw from Shakib.

Living up to the tag of being an unpredictable side, Pakistan suffered a collapse and, from 160 for two in the 33rd over, they were struggling at 198 for seven.

Even as the middle-order, which has the experienced Younis Khan and the talented Umar Akmal, failed miserably, Gul provided the much-needed thrust down the order to help Pakistan post a challenging total.

Gul, who struck five fours and a six, found an ally in Sarfraz Ahmed (19 off 28), and the two added 53 crucial runs for the eighth wicket.

1st Test: Pakistan beat England by 10 wickets

Dubai: Pakistan handed top-ranked England their first Test defeat in 13 months with a blowout 10-wicket victory inside three days on Thursday.

Pakistan stubbornly extended their first innings in the morning to 338 for a lead of 146, then began before lunch dismantling England in their second innings for 160 inside 58 overs.

Umar Gul's aggressive bowling for 4-63, coupled with some shocking shot selection by the Englishmen, left Pakistan with only 15 runs to win the opening Test of the three-match series, and opener Mohammad Hafeez hit three boundaries in collecting them all.

It was top-ranked England's first defeat since losing to Australia in the Ashes Test at Perth in 2010. England had won seven of nine since then.

Pakistan extended their unbeaten run in Tests to eight since May, including six victories.

Offspinner Saeed Ajmal, who grabbed a career-best 7-55 in England's first innings score of 192, added three more wickets to be named man of the match. It was second career match haul of 10 wickets.

Abdur Rehman showed England why they should have included left-arm spinner Monty Panesar with 3-37, and narrowly missed a hat-trick.

After Adnan Akmal's gutsy half-century stretched Pakistan's first-innings lead to 146, Gul had England on the mat by tea at 75-5, claiming three wickets.

Gul had reduced England to 16-1 at lunch when captain Andrew Strauss was adjudged caught behind off a leg-side delivery after TV umpire Steve Davis upheld onfield umpire Billy Bowden's decision.

Opener Alastair Cook (5) and Kevin Pietersen (0) departed from attempting shocking pull shots against Gul.

In his second spell, Gul found a thick outside edge of topscorer Jonathan Trott, who attempted an expansive cover drive to try and to reach a half century. Trott was out for 49 off 111 balls.

Ajmal undid Ian Bell for 4 with his doosra. The batsman halfheartedly called for a review but started walking back after watching the replay on the big screen at Dubai International Cricket Stadium with the ball striking his back leg in front of the stumps.

Rehman struck just before tea when Eoin Morgan on 14 got a faint edge to the wicketkeeper, and was on a hat trick when he dismissed Stuart Broad (17) and Chris Tremlett (0) off successive deliveries with England still 11 runs shy of making Pakistan bat again.

Graeme Swann (39) and James Anderson (15) ensured England did not lose by an innings with a 25-run last wicket stand before Ajmal wrapped up the innings by finding the leading edge of Swann's bat and Asad Shafiq making a low catch and roll at short cover.

Pakistan resumed overnight at 288-7 and thanks to the diminutive Akmal hitting 61 with eight fours, frustrated England for an hour and a quarter.

Akmal lost Gul for a duck when he hit Broad in only the second over of the day to Morgan at point.

Akmal gathered a precious 30 runs with Ajmal before Swann had the latter caught close to the wicket for 12.

The last-wicket stand of 19 — all made by Akmal — added to England's frustration as the Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman kept the strike from No. 11 Aizaz Cheema for four overs.

Akmal played some extravagant strokes that included two reverse swept boundaries off Swann. He brought up his second Test half-century with a similar stroke for two runs and pumped his fist in joy while raising his bat toward his teammates in the dressing room.

Swann finally closed Pakistan's first innings when Akmal went out of the crease but missed the line and was stumped by Prior down the legside. Swann ended with 4-107 while Broad claimed 3-84.

The second Test begins at Abu Dhabi on Jan. 25, and the teams return to Dubai for the last Test from Feb. 3.