Forget the politics or the no-handshake controversy, Pakistan cricket team faltered once again as Team India have extended their winning streak in the T20 World Cup against the so-called arch-rivals to 8-1, with an emphatic 61-run win in Colombo. Salman Ali Agha and co. were no match as Suryakumar Yadav and co. completed an easy win in the IND vs PAK contest to qualify for the Super 8 stage. The loss comes after Pakistan’s antics over not wanting to play against India and it taking the ICC a couple of weeks of convincing and a meeting to break the deadlock and ask them to take the field. Well, Pakistan could have might as well not played against India, rather than losing in such miserable fashion.
PAK, who last managed to beat India way back in 2021 in Dubai, continued to pile misery on their heads, with their batting unit completely failing to fire against a flawless Indian bowling unit. Like it has been said multiple times in the recent past, the contest between India and Pakistan is no longer considered a rivalry and is instead just another normal match, especially for the Men in Blue. This match has just proved that once again!
Kishan blows Pakistan away
Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl first, and managed to get an early wicket by getting rid of Abhishek Sharma for a duck. But that was where their troubles began. They were blown away by Ishan Kishan’s whirlwind 77-run knock off 40 deliveries, which comprised of 10 fours and 3 sixes. Such was the onslaught unleashed by the Indian opener that he had managed to score 80% of India’s runs at the time of his dismissal, setting the stage for the rest of the team to post a 175-run total.
Saim Ayub shadowed mystery spinner Usman Tariq – who was touted to be India’s biggest threat in the contest. However, Tariq finished with figures of 1/24 from 4 overs while part-timer Ayub was PAK’s best with 3/25 from his quota. Pakistan used 6 spinners – the most used by a team in a T20 World Cup in an innings. Despite a pain-staking slow innings from Tilak Varma (25 off 24), Suryakumar Yadav (32 off 29) and Shivam Dube (27 off 17), India managed to reach 175/7 at the end of 20 overs. Of course, not to forget, Hardik Panyda’s rare failure where he was dismissed for a golden duck.
Bye bye Pakistan
Well, for all the hype that was made around Sahibzada Farhan and his ability to take on Indian bowlers at the start of the innings, he was dismissed in the vey first over by Pandya. Wickets then continued to fall like pellets, with Bumrah getting rid of Ayub and captain Agha in his very first over. Axar Patel then joined the party, as he castled the so-called experienced ‘King’ Babar Azam for just 5 runs.
Usman Khan attempted to put up a valiant fight back and managed to make his way until 44 runs before Axar struck once again. It was then time for Kuldeep and Tilak Varma to join the party, as a hapless Pakistan continued to collapse like a pack of cards.
Varun Chakravarthy, India’s best spinner, struck twice consecutively in the 16th over to open his account as Pakistan tailenders had no idea of how to deal with him. Such was Pakistan’s hopeless batting that India ended up using 7 bowlers, with only SKY, Sharma and Kishan not bowling. Hardik Panyda had the last laugh as he got rid of Usman Tariq to complete India’s 11th consecutive win in T20 World Cup.
Cricket
IND vs PAK: Toothless Pakistan surrender to India's might as Suryakumar Yadav & co extend streak to 8-1
