By Tej SH
India beat Pakistan in a landslide victory in the group stage of the T20 World Cup. This victory cements India’s spot in the Super 8 of the tournament. India won against Pakistan by a huge margin of 61 runs.
Contrary to the result of the match, Pakistan won the toss and chose to field in the first innings. However, this decision to field first turned out to be the gift that the batting lineup needed. Abhishek Sharma lost his wicket almost instantaneously as a catch by Shaheen Afridi led to his dismissal early in the match. However, Ishan Kishan led a masterstroke of a performance as he put up a total of 77 runs in 40 balls faced. Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav put up a combined score of 57 runs. Shivam Dube also put up a respectable knock of 27 runs whereas Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel got out on a golden duck.
Saim Ayub was the standout bowler from the Pakistani bowling lineup. His stint of taking four wickets and only conceding 25 runs in the four overs bowled. Shadab Khan and Abrar Ahmed were the weakest links as they conceded 17 runs in a single over and 38 runs in three overs respectively.
India’s first over was bowled by Hardik Pandya and it was a maiden over with a wicket. This over set the tone for the rest of the innings as the rest of the wickets kept falling like dominoes. Usman Khan was the batsman from the Pakistan team who scored a total of 44 runs from 34 balls faced. The batting lineup only lasted for 18 overs. Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel and Varun Chakaravarthy have taken two wickets each.
In a funny manner, Rinku Singh was given the opportunity to bowl an over against a clearly losing side. The other two wickets were taken by Kuldeep Yadav and Tilak Varma. Due to the superb bowling performances of the bowling lineup, India has won against Pakistan in a monumental manner.
A little bit of controversy leading up to the match led the Indian National Team to not shake hands with the Pakistani team, especially after the Pahalgam terror attacks and Operation Sindoor which was conducted last year.