The 19th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 was a nail-biter as India edged out arch-rivals Pakistan by a narrow margin of six runs in a low-scoring encounter at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
After winning the toss Pakistan chose to field first. India lost their openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul cheaply. Virat Kohli, who is the mainstay of the batting line-up, endeavored to rebuild the innings but found the going tough mainly because the pitch was slow and low. The turning point came when Rishabh Pant strode out instead of sticking around. The wicketkeeper-batsman, approached the crease and played a critical knock-off 42 runs out of 31 balls for India. Injecting some aggression with boundries and sixes. He made 4 boundaries and hit 2 sixers on his way to score just 42 before being caught behind by wicketkeeper.
Nevertheless, the remaining part of the Indian batting order did not take advantage of Pant’s drive and eventually made a paltry total of 119 runs in 20 overs. Pakistan’s pace attack that consisted of Haris Rauf and Mohammad Amir took three wickets each for their side.
Chasing a modest target, Pakistan started confidently with openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan putting on a decent partnership. However, the introduction of spin into the Indian attack proved decisive. Three important wickets were scalped in the middle overs disturbing the Pakistan’s chase as they were contained from scoring by Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja.
The highest points in the innings were made by Babar Azam, the Pakistan captain who despite a seeming slowness made sure to keep up and not lose all wickets. The last bats had no backbone; this resulted into their fall not only by six but also one one of those games where the team snatches a victory from jaws of triumph.
Jasprit Bumrah received Player of the Match award as he bowled economically by only giving away 14 runs for 3 wickets. He bowled with such precision that no Pakistani batsman could score off his bowling
India is now at the top of the Group A standings following this victory, which is a significant blow to Pakistan’s ambition of moving on to the next phase. They will have to find reinforcements before their final group games if they want any chance for progression.
