The day finally arrived for Pakistan. After 29 years and 13 attempts, they finally managed to break the World Cup jinx against India, that too in an emphatic fashion. They chased down 152 easily to win by 10 wickets their in their opening match in the ICC T20 World Cup, in Dubai.
Pakistan bowlers bowled superbly early in the evening, but their Indian counterparts seemed rusty. Even on an used surface, the Indian spinners were unable to find the mojo – the dew played its part, to be fair – while the fast bowlers, despite their IPL experience in the same conditions, were unable to build pressure while defending a below-par score. Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam pair took Pakistan home without much fuss.
The pitch, as mentioned, played better in second half as the dew settled. The ball came on to the bat nicely, especially after the first 10 overs. The conditions favoured the batters so much that even a dot ball became a rarity for India.
By the 13th over, the Pakistan openers had raced to 100, and an Indian defeat seemed inevitable. India had only five bowling options, which did not help their cause either.
Earlier, put into bat, Shaheen Shah Afridi's menacing opening spell jolted India. Afridi got Rohit Sharma in the first over with a brilliant ball that pitched almost on the blockhole, straightened, and caught him plumb in front.
In his next over, Afridi castled K.L. Rahul with an in-dipper, and India were left tottering a 6/2.
From there, Kohli took charge of the proceedings with a curiously paced innings. While he was not at his fluent best, his 57 in 49 balls helped India reach a middling 151/7.
In the middle overs he got support from Rishabh Pant (39 off 30 balls) during a 53-run stand. But once he got out, none of the other batters could come out with any significant contribution.
It was Kohli who did the bulk of the scoring as India got 91 in the final 10 overs. He eventually fell to Afridi in the penultimate over.
Apart from a brief mess-up towards the end, Pakistan's ground fielding and catching were top notch on the night. They will want to carry this momentum when they face New Zealand in a few days. India. however, will now get a break till 31 October, before their second encounter, also against New Zealand.
Brief scores: India 151/7 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 57; Shaheen Afridi 3-31) lost to Pakistan 152/0 in 17.5 overs (Rizwan 79*) by 10 wickets with 13 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Shaheen Shah Afridi