Pakistan outplay India; register a comprehensive 10-wicket win to start T20 World Cup 2021 campaign

It was a memorable night for the Pakistani team and all its fans as they registered a comprehensive win against India by 10 wickets in Dubai on Sunday. Openers Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam shone with the bat as both of them scored fifties and chased down the total with 13 balls to spare.

Earlier in the match, Pakistani skipper Babar Azam won the toss and chose to bowl first. Left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi didn’t disappoint his skipper as he gave them a breakthrough in the very first over. Afridi trapped Rohit Sharma lbw with a ball that nipped back in and thus Rohit had to return to the pavilion without troubling the scorers.

Afridi didn’t stop there as he returned in the very next over and cleaned up KL Rahul (3) completely. India were in deep trouble with the scoreboard reading 6/2 in the second over. Skipper Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav were the ones who had walked in to bat.

They had a brief partnership of 25 runs but it was broken in the last over of the powerplay as Suryakumar Yadav edged a hard length delivery from Hasan Ali and was out caught behind. Rishabh Pant was the one who walked in to bat next.

The duo started rebuilding slowly and approached their innings with caution. They were scoring just at a run-a-ball but Pant exploded soon hitting back to back sixes in Hasan Ali’s over. The partnership was going well but it was cut short on 53 as Shadab Khan dismissed Pant caught and bowled.

That was a big turning point in the match as Pant, who was batting so well, was out for a well-made 39 off 30. Ravindra Jadeja (13) walked in next followed by Hardik Pandya (11) but they couldn’t provide India the impetus they needed. Kohli, on the other hand, tried his best to get India to a respectable total. He scored yet another half-century against Pakistan and extended his superb record against them further.

It was Shaheen Afridi again who dismissed him caught behind in the penultimate over of India’s innings. India somehow scampered through to a total of 151/7 in the end, which was pretty good considering their disastrous start. However, as it turned out, the chase turned out to be right up Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan’s alley.

The duo looked at ease against the Indian bowlers and they continued their superb run of form this year. There wasn’t even a single Indian bowler who troubled them at any point in the match. Ultimately they chased down the target with 13 balls remaining. Babar remained unbeaten on 68 off just 52 deliveries, whereas Rizwan scored an unbeaten 79 off 55 balls. Shaheen Afridi was adjudged the Player of the Match in the end for his superb spell of 3/31 in his four overs.

Brief Scores

Pakistan 152/0 (Rizwan 79*, Babar 68*; Bumrah 0-22) beat India 151/7 (Kohli 58, Pant 39; Afridi 3/31) by 10 wickets