• Pakistan defeated South Africa in the first T20I by three runs.

  • Mohammad Rizwan smashed a brilliant century.

Twitter reactions: Mohammad Rizwan shines as Pakistan script thrilling win over South Africa in 1st T20I
Mohammad Rizwan (Image Source: Twitter)

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Pakistan defeated South Africa in the first T20I of the three-match series at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Thursday. Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammed Rizwan was the main attraction in the contest as he smashed a scintillating century to put the home team in a commanding position.

With a stunning century, Rizwan etched his name on the record books as he became only the second wicket-keeper batsman after former New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum to hit a ton in all three formats of the game.

McCullum as a specialist keeper had scored 5 Test hundreds, 3 ODI tons and 1 T20I century. On the other hand, Rizwan as a keeper has now smashed 2 hundreds in ODIs and 1 each in Tests and T20Is.

Rizwan finished with unbeaten 104 from 64 balls comprising of six boundaries and seven sixes. Rizwan’s tally of sixes was also the most by a Pakistan cricketer in T20Is. The dominating batting from Rizwan helped hosts to post 169/6 runs on the scoreboard.

Highest scores by Pakistan batsman in T20Is:

  • 111 – Ahmed Shehzad
  • 104* – Mohammad Rizwan
  • 99* – Mohammad Hafeez

In reply, the visiting side showed tremendous fight back as the game went to the last ball with 6 runs needed to win the contest. However, Faheem Ashraf only conceded 2 runs on the final ball as Pakistan won the match by three runs.

For the Proteas, openers Janneman Malan and Reeza Hendricks shined with the willow and gave their team a solid start. The duo added 53 runs for the opening wicket before Usman Qadir brought Pakistan back into the game. He first dismissed Malan for 44 runs and then sent back Jacques Snyman for 2 runs.

Soon, Ashraf joined the party and removed the dangerous David Miller for mere 6 run score. Then skipper Heinrich Klaasen (12) and Hendricks tried to stabilize the innings. The pair formed a 32-run stand for the fourth wicket before Haris Rauf dismissed the South African captain.

Hendricks made a remarkable half-century and was looking set to take his team to the victory. But Rauf again came for Pakistan’s rescue as he removed the Proteas opener for a well-made 54 runs.

Dwaine Pretorius and Bjorn Fortuin tried to take the game to the last over, but the duo couldn’t get their team over the finish line.

Here is how Twitter reacted:

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AKSHAT GAUR
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