India’s in-form openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul fell early as Shaheen Afridi’s fierce spell of bowling in the powerplay set India aback.
Suryakumar Yadav soon followed the openers before Rishabh Pant joined Virat Kohli to consolidate the innings. However, Pant’s gritty innings didn’t last long as Shadab Khan struck at the right time, removing the left-hander for 39 (30).
India and Pakistan renewed their high-profile but one-sided cricket rivalry today in a T20 World Cup blockbuster watched by hundreds of millions of fans across the globe.
Pakistan won the toss and chose to field against India in its opening Super 12 match at the T20 World Cup. India has so far won all five of its previous T20 World Cup matches against Pakistan.
It was the first time the two nations had clashed since the 50-over World Cup in 2019.
Both teams went with three fast bowlers and two spinners with India leaving out Rahul Chahar and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Pakistan left out young batter Haider Ali and preferred the experience of Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez in the middle order.
India captain Virat Kohli said he wanted his team to stay focused and professional, saying “don’t get overawed.”
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam expects dew in the second half of the match and was looking for early wickets to put India under pressure.
Teams:
India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf.
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