Pakistan Clutches First T20 World Cup Victory Against India
Pakistan has beaten India by 10 wickets and, it is their first victory, against their arc rivals, in any of their encounters in the T20 World Cup.
Pakistan and India are both drafted in Group 2 along with New Zealand, Afghanistan, Namibia, and Scotland. The group match for Pakistan and India was set for 24th October. Their last two encounters were on 16 June 2019 and 18 June 2017. Judging by this both teams were unaware of the match tactics that can be applied by the opponent's team.
Pakistan is ranked 3rd in the World T20 rankings and India is positioned 2nd, and likewise, people were anticipating India’s win yesterday. Pakistan was the lesser favorites ones because of them being unprepared after the tour of New Zealand and England to Pakistan got cancelled.
Domination by Pakistani seamers and spinners
Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl first, accounting for the conditions that can help them bat later in the match. Virat Kohli also expressed that they would have bowled too if they won the toss. Shaheen bowled the first over and with the early seam and swing from the new ball, managed to take the wicket of Rohit Sharma on a golden duck, i.e. 0(1).
His fiery attack continued when he managed to get a clean bowled of KL Rahul in his second over and third over of the innings. He was supported by Hassan Ali who managed to take the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav. With the three wickets down in the powerplay, the pressure started to build on the India team which remained onto them until the very last bowl of their innings.
Hassan Ali then managed to secure another wicket of Jadeja later in the match. Shadab also got a wicket of Rishab Pant who was trying to hit the ball for a boundary. Despite the tumbling of the top and middle order of the Indian batting, Virat Kohli managed to keep control of his nerves till the end of the match and managed to score a slow, yet very crucial 57 runs for the team. He was then caught behind by M.Rizwan on the ball by Shaheen Afridi. Haris Rauf also remained to be really economical bowler and also got a wicket off the Hardik Pandya. The target set by India was 152 with the loss of their 7 wickets.
Baber and Rizwan’s Masterclass
With the Indian score in mind, the Pakistani skipper Baber Azam and wicket-keeper M.Rizwan opened the innings for Pakistan. Although the Indians must be speculating that they will soon feel challenged by the Indian bowlers, the two opening batsmen, opened the innings as the Pakistani nation expected. They remain firm on the seaming new ball and took their time before obliterating and annihilating the entire Indian bowling lineup. The singles and quick double by the two in-form batsmen slowly transferred the pressure onto the Indian captain Virat Kohli.
The Indian skipper’s frustration increased as the team neared the total and saw no wickets down. A giant zero! Surely he, along with the other Indian gurus who were over-confident, never expected this. I think even the Pakistani themselves did not expect this. Baber and Rizwan both managed to score a half-century and remained on the pitch until the final runs were scored. Baber scored 68 of 52 balls while Rizwan scored 79 of 55 balls. Together they scored the highest Men’s T20 World Cup opening partnership.
Continuing the momentum
The player of the match was awarded to Shaheen who with his early 2 wickets initiated the slaughter on the Indian team. Pakistan now seems to be the favorites to go for semi-final and it is now highly possible that the two old-rivals might meet again in the finals of this World Cup. Baber said that it’s only the first match for the World Cup and they will be giving their 100% in every upcoming game like they did today.
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