Mohammad Rizwan and skipper Babar Azam put on a remarkable show on Sunday as Pakistan defeated India by 10 wickets in their opening match of the ICC T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
According to a match report, Rizwan (79*) and Babar (68*) didn’t give any chance to India bowlers to come on top as the two batsmen continued to dominate the proceedings.
Pakistan chased down the target of 152 without losing any wicket and India looked clueless in their opening match against the rival team.
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On Sunday, the Pakistam team came out with flying colours on the back of some sensational performance after Shaheen Shah Afridi’s show with the ball.
Pakistan chasing 152 got off to a steady start as openers Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam took Pakistan to 35 after five overs.
After the end of 10 overs of the game, Rizwan and Babar looked in great touch and steered the side to 71/0.
Both Rizwan (79) and Babar (68) hit timely boundaries and ensured that they rotate the strike at regular intervals to put pressure on India.
The two batsmen continued to make further pressure as they both smashed respective half-centuries to take Pakistan over the 100-run mark without losing a wicket.
Earlier, after starting to bat, India could make only 151/7 in their 20 overs on the back of skipper Kohli’s 50.
Kohli once again showed what it takes to be a big match player as he hit 57 to take his side over the 150-run mark.
Meanwhile, fans took to social media to troll Virat Kohli-led Team India for suffering the big defeat.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said, “This win is a team effort, and the early wickets were very helpful. It gave us confidence and spinners also bowled well. We executed the plans very well. We as openers like to keep things simple and as the wicket kept getting better, we wanted to bat till the end.”
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“We will take confidence from the win but the tournament is not going to become easy. Before the match, I told players that we need to forget the history,” he added.
India captain Kohli said: “We did not execute the things we wanted to. Credit should be given where its due and Pakistan outplayed us today. We always knew we needed a total that is competitive. They did not give us any chances. It played pretty slow in the first half.”
“Little bit of dew helps the ball come on better later. When you know conditions will change later, you need extra runs. Quality bowling from Pakistan upfront.”
“With the dew coming in in the second half, the slower bowlers were not as effective. Just the start of the tournament, not the end, so important to stay composed. Certainly not the stage where we will be thinking what will we do moving forward,” he added.