Mirpur: India wobbled in the middle overs while chasing a target of 131. But eventually, Kohli and Raina sealed a comfortable win for the men in blue. Amit Mishra won the man of the match award for his impressive 4-1-22-2 bowling spell. This win has helped India to maintain their 100% winning record against Pakistan in ICC World T20.
India lost Yuvraj immediately after Rohit departed. But from thereon, Raina and Kohli steadied the ship for India mixing caution with timely aggression. By the end of 15 overs, India were 106/3 in 15 overs.
Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were involved in a 50-run partnership. But then Dhawan departed trying to hit a shot too many. Rohit Sharma followed his opening partner to the dressing room soon. By the end of 10 overs, India have scored 65 runs losing 2 wickets.
Indian openers started off the chase cautiously scoring 8 runs in first 3 overs. But in Junaid Khan's second over and in the fourth over Indian inning, Rohit Sharma hit a four and then followed it with a six. While Dhawan struggled initially, he hit three fours in Ajmal's first over to take India's score 31 in first 5 overs.
India won the toss and chose to bowl in their opening game in the ICC World T20 2014 today.
After 15th over, Indian bowlers struck in quick succession to dismiss Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal. Shahid Afridi too did not last for too long when he was caught in the deep by Suresh Raina. Pakistan were 6 down for 114 then. Maqsood hit some lust blows in the 20th over to take Pakistan innings to 131.
Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal started to take attack to the opposition as they played some big strokes against Yuvraj Singh and Amit Mishra. At the end of 15 overs, Pakistan have scored 93 runs with the loss of 3 wickets.
India have won the toss and elected to bowl first in the first game of Super 10. India have opted to play with three specialist spinners, so Amit Mishra has got a chance to be in the playing XI. Pakistan started their innings on a positive note with 2 boundaries in first 10 balls.
But then the miscommunication between Shehzad and Kamran Akmal and a direct him from Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped India to get their first wicket. By the end of 5 overs, Pakistan have scored 23 with the loss of 1 wicket.
Just when Hafeez and Shehzad looked comfortable, Jadeja and Mishra struck in two successive over. Indian spinners have done well and restricted the run flow. Pakistan have scored 50 runs with the loss of 3 wickets by the end of 10 overs.
Pakistan boast of an impressive overall record at the ICC World T20 thanks to their presence in 4 semi-finals and 2 finals. But their record against India in the tournament does not favour them.
Both the teams have faced each other three times and India have won on all the occasions; twice in the inaugural edition of ICC World T20 in 2007 and once in 2012 when the tournament was held in Sri Lanka.
In addition to their face-offs in ICC World T2O, both the sides have played against each-other twice where India and Pakistan have won a game each.
So, overall, India and Pakistan have played 5 T20s between them and India hold an upper hand with the win-loss ratio of 4-1.
So far, 8 half-centuries are scored in 5 India vs Pakistan T20 ties; 4 each from the either team. Mohammad Hafeez have scored 2 of them and remains the only batsman from both the teams to have scored more than one fifty.
Gautam Gambhir’s 75-run knock in the ICC World T20 2007 Championship final still remains the highest individual score.
Gambhir is the highest run-getter with 139 runs in 5 matches. As he is not a part of this Indian team, Mohammad Hafeez who follows Gambhir on the highest run-getters' list with 132 runs has a good opportunity to go past him.
In the bowling department, Umar Gul is placed at number one spot in the list of highest wicket-taker between India vs Pakistan T20 ties. He has taken 10 wickets in 5 games with 4 for 37 being his best performance.
