DUBAI: Pakistan moved past 100 runs as skipper Babar Azam (52) and wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan (46) against India in the in the 16th match of the T20 World Cup 2021 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
The duo was able to make Pakistan’s best partnership against India, breaking the previous record of 106 runs between Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik — who had made achieved the feat in 2012. India had handed Pakistan a 152-run target after Babar Azam had decided to bowl first.
After being put in to bat, India got off to the worst start possible. Rohit Sharma was trapped LBW on 0 by Shaheen Afridi in the first over. He was gone for a golden duck. In his next over, Afridi then removed KL Rahul on 3 by disturbing his timber.
At 4, Suryakuamr Yadav played a few shots and got the scoreboard ticking but in the 6th over, he was dismissed by Hasan Ali. Eventually, India reached 36/3 after the Powerplay.
Later, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant (39) stablished the Indian ship with a 53-run stand for the fourth wicket. As wickets tumbled around him, Kohli hung around and top scored for his side with 57 but was out in the penultimate over, just when a late surge was needed.
After winning the toss, Babar Azam said that the team was looking to take early wickets and put some pressure on India. He also reckons dew will come in later and that’s another reason they bowled first. He’s confident in their preparation. Haider Ali has been left out.
Meanwhile, Indian Skipper Virat Kohli has asserted that India was also looking to bowl first but says his team is balanced enough to handle this. “The message to his team is to stay focused and professional despite the atmosphere around this game, use it as a motivation but don’t get overawed,” he added.
“Pitch looks different and more evenly rolled than during the IPL,” Kohli said, adding that he thinks there’s more grass and expects it to play nicely. Ishan, Ashwin, Thakur and Chahar are the four not playing.
Virat Kohli-led India has beaten Pakistan in all of their 12 matches at the T20 and 50-over World Cups. Pakistan, however, go into the contest with 10 wins in a row in the United Arab Emirates, their home away from home for most of the last decade.
Line-ups are in:
Pakistan: 1 Babar Azam (capt) 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk) 3 Fakhar Zaman 4 Mohammad Hafeez 5 Shoaib Malik 6 Asif Ali 7 Shadab Khan 8 Imad Wasim 9 Hasan Ali 10 Haris Rauf 11 Shaheen Shah Afridi
India: 1 KL Rahul 2 Rohit Sharma 3 Virat Kohli (capt) 4 Suryakumar Yadav 5 Rishabh Pant (wk) 6 Hardik Pandya 7 Ravindra Jadeja 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar 9 Varun Chakravarthy 10 Mohammed Shami 11 Jasprit Bumrah
