T20 World Cup 2021: Pakistan dominates favorite India.

T20 World Cup 2021, Ind vs Pak: Fantastic performance from Pakistan with the bat as well as with the ball to completely baffle India, who for most are favorite for the tournament.

“The toss is not in your control but how you react to this situation is,” said Virat after losing the toss and having to bat first. Particularly in UAE toss is very crucial, especially when the match is played in the second phase of the evening with the dew factor in play.

India was castled straight away with two wickets in the opening phase. Deliveries swinging into the batter got Rohit(0) and KL Rahul(3) in shock. Shaheen broke the backbone of the top three by picking up a well-set Virat Kohli(57) at the death. With this magical performance he Shaheen Afridi was awarded the Player of the Match.

The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, would have liked to stay in the dugout for long though he had to come straight away to the crease. Extending his good record against their Arch-rival, he maneuvered the innings well with a half-century. Wickets tumbling on the other end, certainly made an impact in Virat’s approach as he was a bit passive in his play.

Having the liberty of the sixth bowler opens up options and Pakistan rotated the bowling nicely. Hasan Ali was targeted from the Indian batting unit however, he was able to pick up two wickets of Suryakumar Yadav(11) and Ravindra Jadeja(13).

The partnership between two Delhi mates made India achieve a comfortable score of 150. Have Pant been a bit careful, India would have managed to make 15 runs additional. Rishabh Pant(39) is the best choice for India to go with.

The fiery spell from Haris Rauf was very quick indeed. Bowling at around 150 consistently gives the batter a hard time to react. Shadab Khan was excellent too with his tidy four overs and a big wicket of Rishabh Pant.

Playing Hardik Pandya(11) as a pure batter backed fire as he did not impact much in this game. Ishan Kishan would have been an ideal choice having the fact that Hardik is not going to bowl. Nevertheless, it was a good effort from the skipper to help India reach 151 runs.

The dew came hard in the second innings and I think Indian team management knew it early. Managing Mohammad Rizwan(79*) was a nightmare as his stroke playing ability was on a different level. Using his short height as an advantage he was able to pull away even a just short delivery.

On the other end, Babar Azam(68*) mirrored Virat Kohli’s innings holding tight to go till the end. He showed why he is the No. 2 batter in T20I and No1 in ODIs. Brilliant innings leading from the front made the target seems tiny to Pakistan.

No bowler, absolutely no bowler was able to make any type of dent to Pakistan’s batting. India were in extreme desperation for a wicket that never came into existence.

Unbeaten half-centuries from both Pakistani openers made sure no other batter gets to play a single delivery. A fantastic batting display from them and a well-deserved win as well. They were surely a better team.

Watch T20 World Cup 2021 highlights of Ind vs Pak.

T20 World Cup 2021, Ind vs Pak post match presentation.

Virat Kohli:

“This is definitely not the start we wanted and we were outplayed by Pakistan. They started really well with the bat and it was never going to be easy especially with dew coming in. They were very professional with the chase and didn’t give us a chance. The batting got a bit easier, driving on the up was easier too, but we knew the conditions would change and favor the team batting second. We needed that 15-20 extra runs but the early wickets hindered our cause. Playing an extra slow bowler may not have helped with the dew coming in. We are not the team that presses the panic button so early and it’s important to stay composed and we will have a thorough chat about what we want to do in the next game.”

Babar Azam:

“The team executed the plans well. The bowlers were brilliant and Shaheen in particular was good at the start. I and Rizwan looked to keep things simple and that worked for us. Once dew came into play, it got easier to bat so we wanted to bat till the end. Winning this game gives us confidence but this is just the start of the tournament for us. We did not focus on the past before this game and had the confidence due to the way we played in the warm-up games.”