Openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan raised an unbeaten partnership of 152 runs to bring an end to India’s near-three-decade domination at the world stage as Pakistan recorded a 10-wicket win over India in their opening match of T20 World Cup, at Dubai International Stadium, on Sunday.
Intent on breaking their the run of losses, Pakistan restricted India to 151/7after 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 Azam stroked his way to 68 while his opening partner, 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 57, Rishabh Pant slammed 39 off 30 balls. Sent into bat after the coin landed in favour of Pakistan skipper 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 ), who had Rohit trapped in front of the wicket for a duck and then bowled Rahul after the batsman had run three singes followed by the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav.
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) 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).
@Picture: ICC
