DUBAI, Feb 23: Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal bowled superbly to inspire Pakistan to an eight-run victory over England in the first Twenty20 international here on Thursday.

World champions England looked to be cruising to a target of 145 following a quick 33 from the in-form Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara’s 39 but man-of-the-match Gul dismissed Jos Buttler and Samit Patel with successive deliveries in the 18th over to give Pakistan hope.

Ajmal then bowled a brilliant 19th over of the innings, conceding just four runs, to put Pakistan on the brink of victory with England needing 18 off the last six balls. Jonny Bairstow and Graeme Swann were unable to find the boundary off Junaid Khan’s final over and managed just nine runs.

Earlier, Pakistan raced to 36 runs in the first three overs before losing wickets at regular intervals as the scoring rate slowed.

Captain Misbah-ul-Haq struck a huge six in his unbeaten 26 off 26 balls and Shoaib Malik made 39 but Swann completed figures of three for 13 from four miserly overs to restrict Pakistan to 144 for six.—Reuters