Revisiting India's last 3 T20Is at the Chinnaswamy Stadium
The M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is one of the most popular grounds in India. It has a history of producing some really exciting cricket. The boundaries are short and the pitch is generally in favour of the batsmen. Hence, it more often than not produces a run-fest, especially in limited-overs cricket.
The Chinnaswamy has hosted over 50 international games which include 5 T20Is. With India scheduled to play the 2nd T20I against Australia at this venue, let’s look back at all the three T20Is the ‘Men in Blue’ have played here in the past.
#3 India vs Pakistan (2012) – Pakistan won by 5 wickets
This was the last time India and Pakistan played a bilateral series. In 2012-13, Pakistan came down to India for a short limited-overs series (two T20Is and three ODIs). The first game of the tour was at the Chinnaswamy as the arch-rivals met in a T20I bilateral series for the first time.
Pakistan skipper Mohammad Hafeez won the toss and opted to field first. The Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane got off to a solid start as they put on 77 for the opening stand.
However, once the openers were dismissed in the span of a couple of overs, things went downhill for the hosts as they could manage just 133 in their 20 overs. They scored just 33 runs in the last 6.3 overs. Umar Gul (3/21) and Saeed Ajmal (2/25) starred with the ball for Pakistan.
India had a dream start with the ball as debutant Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked three wickets in his opening spell. Pakistan were reeling at 12/3 in the 3rd over but the experienced duo of Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik got together to stitch a 106-run stand.
While the former was dismissed for 61 in the 18th over, Malik batted through. Needing 10 off the final over, Malik was calm and composed as he finished things off for Pakistan with a couple of balls to spare to give them a 1-0 lead.
Brief Scores: India 133/9 (Gambhir 43, Rahane 42, Gul 3/21, Ajmal 2/25) lost to Pakistan 134/5 (Hafeez 61, Malik 57*, Bhuvneshwar 3/9) by five wickets.