Shan Masood (52) and Iftikhar Ahmed (51) helped Pakistan to hand a 160-run target to India in the opening T20 World Cup match on Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
After winning the toss and putting Pakistan to bat first, India took control by restricting the Men In Green from scoring and dismissing the dangerous Pakistani opening duo in under five overs.
Arshdeep Singh, in his first ball in the second over, dismissed Babar (0) with a full, straight, and pinned lbw. In the fourth over, Singh — who did not perform well in the match against Pakistan in the Asia Cup — got the wicket of Rizwan (4).
But then came Masood and Ahmed, who stabilised the innings at a time when the Men In Green's duo, which they bank on was dismissed. The batters shared a partnership of 76 runs before Ahmed's dismissal.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, who managed to add 16 runs to Pakistan's total at a strike rate of 200, also played an important innings as his quick boundaries in the death overs pressurised India.
For India, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya starred as they took three wickets each, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami picked up a scalp each.
Playing XI
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Shan Masood, Shadab Khan, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Asif Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh.
Source: Geo News