Friday 15 / November / 2024
Kolkata: Indian bowlers produced a decent effort but Pakistan still managed a competitive 118 for five on a rank turner during the group league encounter of the ICC World Twenty20, here on Saturday.
While 118 might not be a great score otherwise, considering the amount of turn on offer, the visitors have something to defend on a match that was reduced to 18-overs-a -side due to rain delay.
There were times when deliveries from Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin were turning square. It was Shoaib Malik (26 from 16 balls; 3x4, 1x6) who gave his team's score an impetus with a quickfire 41-run fourth wicket stand with Umar Akmal (22 from 16 balls; 1x4, 1x6) in only four overs.
Skipper Shahid Afridi, promoted himself to No 3 after his matchwinning innings against Bangladesh but it did not yield any result.
He was watchful and could not do much on a turning pitch during his forgettable stay at the crease with eight runs from 14 balls (1x4). He holed one up to the safe hands of Kohli after mistiming his heaving pull against a widish Pandya delivery.
From being 51/2 from 10 overs, Malik and Akmal lifted them to 95/3 in 15 overs with some power blows especially in the 14th over where Pakistan hit their first six of the match.
Spotting the slower one early, Malik swung his bat against Pandya for their first six in 13.4 overs and Akmal did an encore in the last ball of the same over for a productive 15-runs.
Indians were sharp on the field with Pandya's jaw- dropping catch to remove opener Sharjeel Khan, while Rohit Sharma was sharp in covers saving some clean boundaries to pump up the vibrant atmosphere.
Ashwin made the ball 'talk' in his very first over and extracted vicious turn and bounce from the surface that was predicted to be flat.
He troubled Sharjeel first up with his flight and got vicious turn from the pitch as Pakistan crawled to five for no loss in the first two overs.
Sharjeel broke the shackles in the last ball of the third over hitting the first boundary for their team when he hit Nehra through square leg.
To negotiate the turn and bounce off the pitch, Shehzad used his feet against Ashwin for another boundary but the Indian bowlers were tidy to restrict Pakistant to 24 for no loss in the five-over powerplay.
A stunning forward diving catch by Pandya finally gave India the first breakthrough with Sharjeel (17) caught at midon off a leading edge from Raina.
Shehzad (25) followed soon with yet another leading edge with Jadeja taking yet another impressive catch running back from point as Pakistan were 51/2 at the midway stage.
