ISLAMABAD - Rain spoiled Pakistan's chances of winning the first Twenty20 international against South Africa at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.
Although Pakistan was not perfectly placed, when rain interrupted the play, but things were looking quite bright for the green shirts, as skipper Hafeez, after a long time, looked quite confident while facing his nemeses Dale Steyn. In fact Hafeez not only played Steyn with authority but also hit a classic boundary on his bowling.
Pakistan lost the first T20 by four runs on Duckworth-Lewis method. The rain covered Hafeez's blunders as captain as well. Being fully aware of two simple facts, first weather and secondly not having express quick bowlers at his disposal, even then Hafeez, without thinking for a while, opted to bowl first after winning the toss.
The team selection was pretty much questionable. On what grounds, supreme bowler Saeed Ajmal was left out from the playing XI, a decision which was hard to believe even for the opponents, as conditions were ideal for a bowler like Saeed.
Hafeez, instead of throwing the ball towards experienced and fully aware of the conditions as he was regularly playing at this particular venue for the Lions during the South African domestic league, opted to open the bowling with Anwar Ali, a decision which failed to take off, as not only Anwar but Sohail Tanveer and Junaid Khan also suffered at the hands of aggressive Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla.
Both were playing at will and things were looking grim for the visitors. At one stage, it looked like South Africa might post 200 plus target, as the openers had posted 72 runs in 7.5 overs, but Junaid Khan put breaks on high-flying Proteas openers and grabbed two crucial wickets. Hafeez also bowled well, but it was the sensational debut of Bilawal Bhatti, who bowled with consistent pace and generated 140 plus speed in his quota of overs. Although, Bilawal just managed to take one wicket, yet he had proved that he was going to stay in the national team for a longer period of time.
Once again Pakistan batting was not up to the mark. Ahmed Shahzad dragged outside delivery onto his stumps and Nasir Jamshed, despite surviving the early onslaught of African fast bowlers, just threw away his wicket cheaply in the hands of Dummny.  Pakistan team showed signs of improvement and looked determined to deliver. They green shirts must enter next match with positive frame of mind and play with confident against the Proteas and beat them to level the T20 series.
Steyn looked quite surprise with the way Pakistani openers and especially the way Hafeez batted against him so now he can't afford to laugh at Hafeez. Same aggressive and bold attitude is need of the hour, but Hafeez needs to change his approach towards the game and must adopt aggressive nature and utilize his bowlers according to the situation rather than going on with experiments. Pakistan is more than capable of bouncing back in the next match and level the T20 series.