PAK vs IND: Indian bowlers overpower Pakistan batters to grab six-run victory

NEW YORK: Pakistan on Sunday suffered a major blow in the ongoing T20 World Cup clash against India as they lost the crucial match to the Men in Blue by six runs at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Pakistan suffered a six-run defeat despite an impressive performance by the bowlers as they restricted the Men in Blue to 119 after winning the toss.

Jasprit Bumrah was the hero, delivering crucial wickets and his 3-14 in four overs proved decisive as Pakistan fell just short, ending on 113-7.

India were bowled out by Pakistan for 119 in 19 overs and Mohammad Rizwan made 31 for Pakistan in a well-paced innings.

Despite a positive start as Pakistan had not lost a wicket in the first over, the Green Shirts could not capitalise on the advantage as skipper Babar Azam became Jasprit Bumrah’s victim after scoring 13 runs.

Usman Khan came in after the skipper’s dismissal and he managed to support Mohammad Rizwan but the right-handed batter lost his wicket to Axar Patel.

Pakistan needed a partnership in the middle overs but none of their batters could provide that as Fakhar Zaman (13 off 8), Shadab Khan (4 off 7) and Imad Wasim (15 off 23) all left for the pavilion without scoring big.

However, the turning of the match was when Bumrah bowled Rizwan for 31 runs. The wicketkeeper batter was in a strong position and looked like the man to guide the Green Shirts to the victory but Bumrah denied that.

Pakistan finished their innings at 113-7 in 20 overs. For India, Bumrah bagged three wickets, Hardik Pandya got two while Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel got one each.

Earlier in the first innings, the Pakistani bowlers dominated the Indian batters completely and didn’t give them much room to shine in one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament.

Pakistan started the match brilliantly as Naseem Shah managed to remove Virat Kohli in his first over for just four runs. The Green Shirts didn’t stop as just in the next over, Shaheen Afridi got the wicket of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma.

Axar Patel came in to bat at number four over Suryakumar Yadav to avoid a collapse. However, he too was removed by Naseem in the eighth over.

India looked in good touch with Rishabh Pant and Yadav combining but the latter was removed by Haris Rauf and that was the wicket that started the Indian collapse.

Soon after Suryakumar’s wicket, India lost wickets in quick succession as Amir removed Pant (42 off 31) and Ravindra Jadeja on two balls in the 15th over.

Rauf did the remaining damage and the entire Indian team was soon all out for just 119 runs in 19 overs.

For Pakistan, Naseem and Haris starred with the ball taking three wickets each. Amir got two while Shaheen Afridi picked one.

Playing XIs

Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c) Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.