India and Pakistan, the arch-rivals, took the field on Sunday aiming to crush each other in the cricket field once again. Every time Pakistan aimed the same before in a World Cup, they had to endure a defeat. But this time, they finally bounced back to turn history their way— beating India by a big margin of 10 wickets on Sunday at Dubai.
It was the first match in the Super 12s stage of the ongoing T20 World Cup for both teams.
Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl first. Riding on the superb effort of Shaheen Afridi, Pakistan managed to wrap up India for 151 for seven in 20 overs.
Within the first three overs, Afridi sent the Indian openers— Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul— back to the dressing room. India were never able to recover from this damage. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals with Virat Kohli being the only exception.
The Indian captain scored 57— the highest for his team while Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja scored 39 and 13 respectively.
In reply, the Pakistani openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan chased down the target of 152 runs to seal the match in a scintillating partnership. Babar was unbeaten for 68 off 52 with six fours and two sixes while Rizwan was also unbeaten for 79 off 55 balls with six fours and three sixes.
It was the second-best partnership in any wicket in T20 World Cups after Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara’s 166. But it was the best-ever opening stand in T20 World Cups.
Before this match, India and Pakistan locked horns in five matches in T20 World Cups with India winning all of them. India also beat Pakistant every time they met in the ODI World Cup.
Source: United News of Bangladesh