ABU DHABI, Oct 26 Paceman Lonwabo Tsotsobe and captain Johan Botha took three wickets apiece as South Africa's disciplined bowling backed by superb fielding restricted Pakistan to a paltry 119 in the first Twenty20 at Abu Dhabi Stadium here on Tuesday.
Left-arm paceman Tsotsobe removed both the openers during his economical spell of 3-16 while off-spinner Botha ripped through the middle order with 3-31 as Pakistan struggled to get past 100-run mark after deciding to bat on a batting-friendly Abu Dhabi Stadium pitch.
Recalled Misbah-ul-Haq topscored with an undefeated 32-ball 27 while skipper Shahid Afridi hit an aggressive 25 off just seven balls, hitting three sixes and a boundary before holing out to Botha in the tenth over.
Pakistan raced to 16 in the second over before Tsotsobe removed opener Imran Farhat (10) and then Shahzaib Hasan (nine) in the sixth over.
Botha removed Mohammad Hafeez (13), Afridi and Abdul Razzaq to end Pakistan's hopes of reaching a respectable total.
This is Pakistan's home series shifted to United Arab Emirates due to security fears.
The two teams play the second Twenty20 on Wednesday before playing the first two one-day internationals here at the same venue.
The series then move to Dubai where the last three one-day matches and the first Test will be staged. Abu Dhabi will host the second Test.
Scoreboard
Pakistan
Shahzaib Hasan c Duminy b Tsotsobe 9
Imran Farhat c Smith b Tsotsobe 10
Mohammad Hafeez c Ingram b Botha 13
Umar Akmal c Botha b A.Morkel 14
Shahid Afridi c Bosman b Botha 25
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 27
Abdul Razzaq b Botha 4
Zulqarnain Haider c Duminy b M. Morkel 1
Umar Gul c Smith b Tsotsobe 0
Saeed Ajmal run out 4
Shoaib Akhtar run out 3
EXTRAS (LB1-NB3-W5) 9
TOTAL (all out, 19.5 overs) 119
FALL of wkts 1-16, 2-38, 3-46, 4-75, 5-84, 6-90, 7-91, 8-92, 9-99.
BOWLING M. Morkel 4-0-28-1 (4w); Tsotsobe 4-0-16-3; A. Morkel 4-1-18-1 (3nb); Theron 3.5-0-25-0; Botha 4-0-31-3 (1w).
UMPIRES Asad Rauf, Ahsan Raza (both Pakistan).
TV UMPIRE Nadeem Ghouri (Pakistan).
MATCH REFEREE A. Pycroft (Zimbabwe).—Agencies
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.