Pakistan have finally broken the streak and beat India as comprehensively as it could get, by 10 wickets in their tournament opener in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. The men in green outplayed the Indian team on Sunday evening in Dubai as right from the toss, it was just Pakistan.
It started with Shaheen Afridi blowing Indian top-order away dismissing both the openers cheaply and the men in blue were under pressure from the start. They have depended heavily on the likes of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul for good starts and having both of them in the pavilion inside three overs, their rebuilding phase got prolonged.
Suryakumar Yadav got out soon after playing a couple of shots. Rishabh Pant and skipper Virat Kohli gave the momentum to the innings with a 53-run partnership. However, the former got out at the wrong time after playing a decent knock of 39 runs including two fours and two sixes.
Kohli then had to accelerate and he got a few boundaries to notch up his fourth half-century against Pakistan. But it was Shaheen’s day as he removed Kohli as well in the final over and India reached 151 but didn’t really get that finishing kick.
INNINGS BREAK!
Captain @imVkohli‘s fine & @RishabhPant17‘s guide #TeamIndia to /. #T20WorldCup #INDvPAK
Scorecard https://t.co/eNq46RHDCQ pic.twitter.com/in0w8qSrir
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 24, 2021
However, it wouldn’t have mattered one bit as it was one of the most well-timed chases by the two Pakistan openers Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam. It has been the perfect yin and yang partnership for the men in green as Rizwan takes his chances early, while Babar plays those classical shots.
Babar then takes his time, Rizwan gets those occasional boundaries but they keep the scorecard ticking. Not the boundaries, but the running between the wickets was one of the most impressive features of their partnerships. As never in the chase looked like they were falling behind the rate.
Babar Azam after taking his own sweet time targeted the bowlers, he wanted to and got the boundaries pretty easily. Rizwan then took calculative risks and it was just a walk in the park for them after that. In the last few overs, it felt like the gaps existed for both of them to find them, they were doing it that easy.
India now have a week off before they play their second game against New Zealand, next Sunday. While Pakistan too face New Zealand, however, on Tuesday on October 26.
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