City of joy, Kolkata, lightened up in celebrations as India beat arch-rivals Pakistan yet again in a World Cup with six wickets in hand on Saturday to get their World T20 up and running.
On a pitch where Pakistan team had never lost against the Men in Blue, Team India changed the history and turned the tables on their arch-rivals.
Mr reliable Virat Kohli’s 55 not out, and Yuvraj Singh’s priced little cameo of 24 runs helped India cross the finishing line. The duo shared a 61-run partnership for the fourth wicket which proved crucial in the final outcome.
While chasing the modest score of 118, Men in Blue had a few roadblock which left them reeling at 23/3 at one stage. In the fourth over Pakistan’s veteran pacer Mohammad Sami took two wickets on two balls sending Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina back to the pavilion to silence the Eden Gardens crowd.
But, after that Yuvi and Kohli made sure the Blues had no trouble in chasing down the target with a little bit of help from Dhoni’s 13 runs in the end.
Earlier, Pakistan notched up a well-earned and extremely competitive score of 118 at Eden Gardens after MS Dhoni believed in his bowlers and his batsmen’s abilities to chase and put the visitors to bat in a rain-delayed 18 over match. On a pitch that is turning a mile and also offering assistance to pace, it is a good total, something that Dhoni would have wanted to hover around 90 -95.
But it was a contest in which Ashwin was bewilderingly not given his full four overs despite being restrictive at 4 runs an over and Hardik Pandya bowled just two to give away 25 runs as Shoaib Malik feasted on him with two brilliant sixes in consecutive balls. On the whole, it was a gruelling contest in the middle. The Indian spinners lived up to expectation, restricting the Pakistani batsmen and, to a certain extent, curbing the damage done by Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah who gave away 8 runs an over.
Meanwhile in New Delhi, Indian women’s team lost to Pakistan by two runs via Duckworth-lewis method in a rain-affected group league encounter. Batting first, India managed a paltry 96/7. In reply, Pakistan was 77/6in 16 overs when steady showers halted proceedings. The D/l par score at that point of time was 75 and thus Pakistan were two runs ahead of the hosts.