COLOMBO, SRI LANKA: India beat Pakistan by 61 runs in their third encounter of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday, February 15. The Indians thoroughly outplayed their opponents and widened the gap between the sides. With this result, India have now won nine out of the ten matches they have played against Pakistan in the history of this competition.
Pakistan won the toss and asked the Men in Blue to bat first. India seemed to be in trouble up front when they lost opener Abhishek Sharma for 0 off the last ball of the first over. However, his fellow opener Ishan Kishan steadied the ship, and along with number three Tilak Varma, built a partnership of 88 runs. Of this, Kishan scored 77 off just 40 balls himself, leaving Varma to eke out 11 runs.
The southpaw went berserk against the Pakistani bowlers, who resorted to spin right from the beginning. Pakistan captain Salman Agha gave just one over to Shaheen Afridi (Agha opened the bowling himself and scalped Sharma) before handing the ball to the spinners.
The latter tried to induce Kishan to play shots on the legside, but he held his shape well and manoeuvred the ball onto the offside extremely well. The pitch was slower than expected, and assisted spin, but the Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batter did not seem fazed at all. He comfortably came down the track when needed and waited for the ball to turn before offering expansive shots.
Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube helped India finish well against Pakistan
After he got out, India suffered from a slowish run-rate, but captain Suryakumar Yadav (32) and Varma (25) added nearly 40 runs for the third wicket. Hardik Pandya holed out in the deep first ball, but Rinku Singh (11 not out) and Shivam Dube (27) tore into Afridi in the final over to pick up 16 runs and hand their team the advantage.
In response, Pakistan got off to perhaps the worst possible start, losing their in-form opener Sahibzada Farhan (0) to a poorly executed pull shot off Pandya off the fourth ball of the innings. Jasprit Bumrah got one to swing back in and nab Saim Ayub (6) in front, before captain Agha (4) gave his wicket away with a preposterous lofted on drive that went straight to Pandya at mid on.
Spin was brought on soon enough, and Axar Patel accounted for Babar Azam (5), who tried to heave against the turn towards midwicket. Usman Khan (44) offered some support, but sadly, he found no partners at the other end. As the innings progressed, the asking rate kept climbing, and India’s bowlers had no trouble dismantling Pakistan’s lesser-known faces. With this win, India remain on top of Group A with 6 points, whereas Pakistan languish in the 3rd spot with 4 points.
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