Dubai, Oct 24: Pakistan brought to an end India’s near-three-decade domination of them in the world stage in the most convincing fashion, embarrassing their arch-rivals by 10 wickets in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup here on Sunday.
Intent on breaking their the run of losses, Pakistan restricted India to 151 for seven after electing to field in the T20 showpiece’s blockbuster game.
Pakistan then made light work of the target of 152, completing the win with 13 balls to spare.
Skipper Babar Azam stroked his way to 68 while his opening partner, Mohammad Rizwan, smashed 79 as the Indian bowlers struggled to contain the two batters.
Earlier, captain Virat Kohli led from the front with a half-century as India recovered from a disastrous start to post a challenging total.
Besides Kohli’s 49-ball 57, Rishabh Pant slammed 39 in 30 deliveries.
Sent into bat after the coin landed in favour of Pakistan skipper Babar Azam at the toss, India were off to the worst possible start as they lost both their prolific openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul within three overs with just six runs on the board.
Doing most of the initial damage was the lanky left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi (3/31 in 4 overs), who had Rohit trapped in front of the wicket for a duck and then bowled Rahul after the batsman had run three singes.
Kohli and Pant then joined forces to add 53 runs in quick time before the latter was caught out by leg-spinner Shadab Khan (1/22 in four overs) off his own bowling in the 13th over.
Brief scores: India: 151/7 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 57, Rishabh Pant 39; Shaheen Afridi 3/31) vs Pakistan.
Pakistan: 152 for no loss in 17.5 overs (Babar Azam 68 not out, Mohammad Rizwan 79 not out).—(PTI)
