Ruthless Pakistan break India jinx, thrash arch-rivals by 10 wickets
Pakistan openers- skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan- stitched a memorable opening partnership of 152. It was the highest-ever opening partnership by any pair in the history of World Cups.
Pakistan beat India for a massive margin of 10 wickets in their first match in the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup. It was the first time Pakistan humbled India in a World Cup match. This was only the fourth ten-wicket victory in the history of T20 World Cups.
Pakistan openers- skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan- stitched a memorable opening partnership of 152. It was the highest-ever opening partnership by any pair in the history of World Cups.
Shaheen Shah Afridi set the tone for Pakistan by sending back the Indian openers- Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul- quickly. Suryakumar Yadav who came in at four was dismissed by Hasan Ali in the sixth over and India were reduced to 31 for three.
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Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant rebuilt the innings after the initial stutters with an important 53-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Pant was the more aggressive of the two, scoring 39 off 30 balls with the help of two sixes and as many fours.
Kohli anchored India's innings with a solid 57 off 49 deliveries before getting out to Afridi in the penultimate over. India finished with 151 for seven after 20 overs.
For Pakistan, Afridi picked up three wickets. Hasan Ali took a couple of wickets but was expensive.
In reply, Babar and Rizwan started off steadily. They kept their wickets intact and at the same time kept the scoreboard ticking over. They brought up the fifty partnership off 46 deliveries.
The duo became more fluent as time went on. Babar reached his half century off 40 balls.
The second fifty of the partnership came at a more rapid pace, off just 29 balls. Rizwan too got to his fifty soon after that.
Babar and Rizwan made sure Pakistan were always ahead of the required run rate.
The duo reached the target with 13 balls to spare. Babar was unbeaten on 68 and Rizwan on 79. This was the first time India lost a T20I by 10 wickets. This was also Pakistan's first-ever 10-wicket win in this format.
Shaheen Shah Afridi was named the player of the match.
