Shaheen shines as India set a 151 target to chase down for Pakistan in the most-awaited match of the Twenty20 World Cup 2021.
Summary of the 1st innings
After being put on to the bat, Team India got off to the worst start possible. Rohit Sharma was trapped LBW on 0 by Shaheen Afridi in the first over. He was gone for a golden duck. In his next over, Afridi then removed KL Rahul on 3 by disturbing his timber. At 4, Suryakuamr Yadav played a few shots and got the scoreboard ticking but in the 6th over, he was dismissed by Hasan Ali. Eventually, India reached 36/3 after the Powerplay. In the next four overs, India scored 24 to keep the run-rate up. Thanks to Rishabh Pant upping the ante and Kohli playing second fiddle, India began their comeback. He hit two one-handed sixes before being caught and bowled by Shadab Khan. India finally got to 151-7 after 20 overs.
Perhaps for the first time in their six T20 WC encounters, Pakistan surely seems to have had complete control over India. A sizzling opening spell ripped apart India’s premier openers in a flash. Rohit had no clue against that searing yorker, neither did KL stand a chance against the fiery inswing. The mantle once again fell on Kohli and under soaring pressure, he withstood the opposition once again. The slow fifty wouldn’t have helped India’s case for a big finish but it has ended up with a total that could just about make this a stiff chase. Can India dislodge the the in-form Babar and Rizwan early to put the pressure back on Pakistan.
Pakistani bowlers overcame the strong batting line up as Shaheen took 3 wickets in his 4 overs spell.
Pitch condition
The first round of the T20 World Cup saw the UAE fixtures take place in Abu Dhabi, but the pitch in Dubai is expected to favour the slower bowlers. Even the quicks are likely best served by varying their pace and bowling more cutters than express pace, with lower scores likely to be competitive.
Virat Kohli’s India comes into the contest with an unbeaten 5-0 record in the tournament.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said “records are meant to be broken” and the fans echo their captain’s sentiments.
The 17,500 tickets for the game were sold out hours after being put on sale and television channels in both countries are running special shows on the match.
Lineup
Pakistan: 1 Babar Azam (capt) 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk) 3 Fakhar Zaman 4 Mohammad Hafeez 5 Shoaib Malik 6 Asif Ali 7 Shadab Khan 8 Imad Wasim 9 Hasan Ali 10 Haris Rauf 11 Shaheen Shah Afridi
India: 1 KL Rahul 2 Rohit Sharma 3 Virat Kohli (capt) 4 Suryakumar Yadav 5 Rishabh Pant (wk) 6 Hardik Pandya 7 Ravindra Jadeja 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar 9 Varun Chakravarthy 10 Mohammed Shami 11 Jasprit Bumrah
