Pakistan won the match by 10 wickets with the help of clinical performance from Shaheen Afridi who provided a master-class show with the bowl followed by Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam to guide their team to stand on the winning side.
Pakistan had won the toss and decided to bowl first. Pakistani pacer Shaheen Afridi was in good touch. He caught India’s vice-captain Rohit Sharma for a golden duck and clunked KL Rahul’s stump in his following over as India was dangling at 6-2.
Their batters look rusty against the pacers and lost so much ground early that they couldn’t make much of a mark against the spinners either.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav tried to stand the innings after the early wickets but Yadav couldn’t play long as Hasan Ali sent him out the pavilion.
After the Powerplay, India went on 36-3 and was in total trouble.
Then, Kohli and Pant made a great partnership of 53 runs in the very crucial moment that helped India to stand the innings again.
Leg spinner Shadab Khan took the wicket of Pant as he tried to play the sweep shot. Things were under control in the Pakistani bowler’s hand.
But the Indian Captain was still on the pitch. He took the responsibility and tried to add some runs on the board.
India had set a total of 151-7 after 20 overs.
After a great performance by with the ball from the men in green. They also played very well with the bat. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan played some watchful innings.
The duo dominated the opposition with brilliant stroke play and shepherd the run chase without any trouble.
Babar completed his fifty by putting a 6 off Varun Chakravarthy while Rizwan pulled Bumrah and reached the half-century mark with a boundary. By their bat, runs kept flowing for Pakistan.
Rizwan hit six fours and three sixes for his 55 balls 79 While Babar punch six fours and two sixes for his 68.
The total was chased down in the 18th over of the innings by 10 wickets in hand.
Pakistan will now face New Zealand on Tuesday at Sharjah International Stadium.
“ We executed our plans well and the early wickets were very helpful. Shaheen’s wickets gave us a lot of confidence and the spinners dominated as well. The plan with Rizwan is always to keep it simple. We tried to get deep in the crease and from about the 8th over the dew came in and the ball came on nicely. This is just the start, we have the confidence to build on now. It will remain match by match for us. The pressure on us wasn’t that much – we weren’t thinking of the record against India at all. I only wanted to back all our players who’ve been preparing well. When you play tournaments before a big World Cup, it helps and our players came in with a lot of confidence because of that.”
Said the Winning captain Babar Azam.
“We did not execute the things that we wanted to but credit is certainly due – they outplayed us today. When you lose three early it’s very difficult to come back, especially when you know the dew is coming. They were very professional with the bat as well. Hitting through the line was not as easy in the first half as it seemed in the Pakistan innings, so when you know the conditions can change, you need 10-20 extra runs. But some quality bowling from Pakistan didn’t let us get off the blocks. [Team] we’re certainly not a team that presses the panic button, it’s the start of the tournament, not the end.”
Said losing captain Virat Kohli.
“This is the first time we’ve beaten India and I feel proud. I knew it would be good for us if I got early wickets and that worked out. My idea was to get as much swing as possible. You don’t get a lot here, but I wanted to get those breakthroughs and give it 100%. In my opinion, the new ball was difficult to play, so credit goes to Babar and Rizwan. All the teams are difficult at the World Cup, we’ll try to take this momentum forward and make the final.”
Said player of the match Shaheen Afridi.