India thump Pakistan in grudge match to sail into Super Eight

COLOMBO (Agencies): Defending champions India thumped Pakistan by 61 runs in a grudge Group A match of the Twenty20 World Cup to secure their place in the Super Eight stage of the tournament on Sunday. Ishan Kishan’s breakneck 77 powered India to 175-7 at the R Premadasa Stadium where Pakistan’s spin-heavy attack managed to apply the brakes to an extent after the opener’s exit. The tournament co-hosts returned to bundle out Pakistan for 114 in 18 overs to register their third win in a row. The match went ahead after Pakistan earlier reversed their decision to boycott the game in solidarity with Bangladesh, who refused to tour India over safety concerns and were replaced by Scotland. Salman and his India counterpart Suryakumar Yadav did not shake hands at the toss, though. India were reinforced by the return of Abhishek Sharma, who missed the first two matches with a stomach infection, but the opener could not make it count. Pakistan captain Salman sprang a surprise by opening the attack himself and the move paid off as the spinner trapped Abhishek lbw to remove the reigning number one batter in T20 Internationals. Pakistan used three spinners in the powerplay to try and stem boundary flow and India’s score of 52-1 after six overs suggested the ploy worked to an extent.

Kishan could not be contained though and the diminutive southpaw tore into the Pakistan attack with his take-no-prisoners batting. The opener took only 27 balls to race to his second successive fifty of the tournament. Saim Ayub ended Kishan’s 40-ball blitz but India were 92-2 at the halfway stage of their innings. Ayub (3-25) dismissed Tilak Varma (25) and Hardik Pandya with successive deliveries to turn the heat back on India. Suryakumar (32) and Shivam Dube (27) could not quite provide the late flourish that could take India past the 200-mark that had looked well within their reach at one stage. Pakistan became the first team to employ six spinners in a T20 World Cup match but the joy of having restricted India under 200 evaporated soon as they slumped to 13-3 in two overs in their chase. Pandya removed Pakistan’s in-form opener Sahibzada Farhan for a duck and Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Ayub and Salman in the same over to pin down Pakistan. Babar Azam (five) did not last long either and Pakistan were gasping at 38-4 after the six powerplay overs. Usman Khan (44) defied India for a while but Axar Patel lured him out to be stumped to effectively snuff out Pakistan’s chances of an unlikely victory.

Brief scores:

India 175 for 7 (Kishan 77, Suryakumar 32, Ayub 3-25) beat Pakistan 114 (Usman 44, Hardik 2-16, Bumrah 2-17, Varun 2-17, Axar 2-29) by 61 runs.