Dubai: Pakistan broke their World Cup jinx against India as they registered a 10 wicket win over their arch-rival in the Super 12, Group game of ICC World T20 in Dubai on Sunday.
Babar Azam(68) and Mohammad Rizwan(79 ) remained unbeaten till the end to chase down a target of 152 with ease after Virat Kohli’s heroic 57 and Rishabh Pant’s supporting 39 got India to 151/7 in 20 overs.
Skipper, Babar won a vital and knowing this strength, he asked India to bat which proved right on the money. Shaheen Afridi(3/19), the seamer who was termed as a threat proved his worth as he jolted India twice in his first two overs sending both the openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul home. Suryakumar Yadav on his debut looked good at the start hitting a six off Shaheen but fell to Hasan Ali shortly after. Skipper Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant joined hands in the rebuilding process as Pakistan bowlers executed their well throughout the innings.
Pant shifted the momentum a bit towards India hitting a couple of sixes to Hasan Ali in the 12th over however the south-paw got dismissed in the next over. Skipper Kohli though was the lone warrior as he stretched the Indians innings by himself to a respectable total bringing another half-century against Pakistan before Afridi dismissed him in his final over to put brakes on the runs in the death overs although India scratched their way through past 150 run mark.
In reply, it was all about the Babar-Rizwan show. The two pillars of the Pakistan batting paced their innings smoothly throughout the chase with both bringing up half-centuries which they would cherish for a long time to come. The Indian bowlers looked powerless as they failed to pick up any wicket despite Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy bowling tight spells early on. However, with wickets in hand, Pakistan sealed the deal in the 18th over with Rizwan hitting seamer Mohammad Shami a maximum as well as a couple of boundaries breaking the thirty-year old jynx.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 152/0 in 17.5 overs( Mohammad Rizwan 79*, Babar Azam 68*) beat India 151/7 in 20 overs(Virat Kohli 57, Rishabh Pant 39; Shaheen Afridi 3/31) by 10 wickets.
