Dubai, Oct 24
Pakistan produced a thoroughly professional performance to register their first ever World Cup victory against India by 10 wickets in their Group 1 match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
Shaheen Shah Afridi’s explosive opening spell during India’s batting and openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan’s unbeaten century stand in the chase of 152 runs powered Pakistan to a famous win against their arch-rivals.
Pakistan had never beaten India in the previous 12 World Cup encounters since the 1992 ODI World Cup and were under enormous pressure against the much fancied Indian team.
However, the Pakistanis brought their A game when it really mattered and outplayed India completely.
SHAHEEN ROCKS INDIA
Earlier, Shaheen Shah Afridi rocked India in the first over when he yorked Rohit Sharma for a golden duck and in his second over bowled KL Rahul to leave India reeling.
At 6/2, India were in all sorts of trouble and needed the experience of skipper Virat Kohli to bail them out. And when Suryakumar Yadav joined him at the crease, there was an expectancy of rebuilding.
However, Hasan Ali had other plans when he scalped Yadav behind the wicket off a peach of a delivery.
It was then the turn of the supremely talented Rishabh Pant’s turn to put some pressure on the Pakistani bowlers with some innovative shots.
Rishabh slammed two sixes and a couple of boundaries in his 39-run innings that gave some momentum to the Indian batting.
Kohli chugged along nicely as well until Pant went for the big one and misjudged the turn off Shadab Khan to get caught and bowled.
The Indian captain scored 57 with five boundaries and a six as he ensured India got to a competitive total.
Ravindra Jadeja (13) and Hardik Pandya (11) chipped in with useful contributions as India set Pakistan a target of 152.
