Akmal’s quick-fire 94 gets Pakistan off mark

Umar Akmal’s 94 off 54 balls provided the foundation as Pakistan posted 191-5 from their 20 overs and they looked well in control with Australia reduced to 8-2 in the first over of their reply.

But Glenn Maxwell hit a stunning 74 off 33 balls in a partnership of 118 with recent Yorkshire signing Aaron Finch, before a clatter of late wickets saw George Bailey’s men dismissed for 175.

JP Duminy admits the pressure is building on South Africa after just one match at the World Twenty20.

The Proteas were losers by five runs in the Group 1 opener against Sri Lanka in Chittagong, meaning they will probably have to win their remaining three matches to book a place in the semi-finals.

The first of those comes today against New Zealand, winners in a weather-affected match versus England, and Duminy is under no illusion that things have already reached do-or-die status.

“There’s always going to be that added pressure on us now, depending on how other results go we’re probably going to have to win all three,” he said.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli both struck half centuries as India claimed a seven-wicket win over West Indies with two balls remaining.

West Indies lost the toss and were put into bat by India in the day/night match at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur and could only reach 129-7 from their allotted 20 overs.

India made relatively light work of chasing down the meagre target before the wheels almost fell off at the end of their innings. Opening batsman Sharma carried his bat with 62 not out and Kohli weighed in with 54 before he was bowled by Andre Russell, with the only other wickets to fall those of Shikhar Dhawan for a duck and Yuvraj Singh for 10.

India needed only a single run from the final over, which was bowled by Marlon Samuels, and with Yuvraj facing, the pressure was on as he fended away the first two balls before being caught out by Chris Gayle at slip.

That brought Suresh Raina to the middle with three balls remaining, but he immediately let his side breathe a huge sigh of relief as he struck the first delivery he faced for four.

Earlier, West Indies had lost wickets regularly during their innings, which never really gathered much momentum.

Dwayne Smith (11) was the first man to fall, caught and bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin, with opening partner Gayle achieving his side’s highest score with 34 before he was the next man to return to the dressing room when he was run out by Mohammed Shami.

That left the Windies on 62 for two in the 13th over, and two overs later they were dealt a double blow when Samuels (18) and Dwayne Bravo (nought) were dismissed in consecutive balls by Amit Mishra.

Lendl Simmons was West Indies’ second-highest scorer with just 27, and he was the last man out in the final over as the side stuttered to a total of 129 for seven from their 20 overs, Ravindra Jadeja doing most of the damage for India with figures of three for 48.

ends