India Beat Pakistan By 6 Runs in T20 World Cup

• By Thetripurapost Desk, New York
• Jun 10, 2024
• 242

India registered its seventh win over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. It was nothing short of a miracle that after being bowled out for just 119 runs, India did not let Pakistan reach the target of 120 runs and won by six runs. 

Player of the Match Jasprit Bumrah became the hero of the Indian victory by taking three wickets for just 14 runs in four overs. At one point, Pakistan needed 37 runs in 30 balls and had six wickets remaining, but the Indian bowlers gave away 30 runs and restricted Pakistan to a total of 113 runs for seven wickets. 

This is India's seventh win over Pakistan in eight matches of the T20 World Cup and India's 15th win over Pakistan in 16 matches including ODI-T20 World Cup. This is Pakistan's second consecutive defeat in the T20 World Cup 2024.

Chasing 120 runs, Pakistan had scored 17 runs when Shivam Dubey dropped a very easy catch of Rizwan on the final leg off Bumrah's ball. Rizwan was then on seven runs. However, Bumrah gave the first breakthrough by dismissing Babar (13) in the fifth over. Pakistan completed 50 runs in 8.5 overs. In 10 overs, they had scored 57 runs for one wicket. On the first ball of the 11th over, Akshar dismissed Usman Khan (13) LBW, but in the same over Fakhar Zaman hit a six off Akshar. In the 13th over, Hardik raised hopes by dismissing Zaman (13). Hopes

Pakistan's hopes were pinned on Rizwan, but Bumrah once again proved to be the troubleshooter for India. He bowled out Rizwan, who scored 31 runs in 44 balls, and made the score 80 for four wickets. Pakistan needed 37 runs to win in the final five overs. In the 17th over, Hardik dismissed Shadab to reduce the score to 88 for five.

Pakistan needed 30 runs in 18 balls. Imad and Iftikhar scored nine runs in Siraj's over to reduce the target to 21 runs in 12 balls, but Bumrah not only dismissed Iftikhar (5) on the last ball of the 19th over but also reduced the target to 18 in the final over by giving just three runs.

Arshdeep Singh came to bowl for India in the last over. Imad Wasim and Naseem Shah were at the crease.

On the first ball, the ball went to wicketkeeper Pant. After this, Pant appealed for a catch out. When the umpire gave not out, the captain took a review. The ball had touched Imad's bat. In such a situation, Imad was out on the very first ball.

Naseem Shah took a single off the second ball. 

On the third ball, Arshdeep's ball hit Shaheen's foot. He took one run.

Naseem Shah scooped the fourth ball and collected four runs.

Naseem again scored four runs on the fifth ball. So Pakistan needed eight runs on the last ball.

Naseem took a single off the last ball and India won by six runs.

The speed of Pakistani fast bowlers blunted the edge of the bats of the brilliant Indian batsmen. Indian batsmen could not play the entire 20 overs and were all out at just 119 runs. This is India's lowest score in T20 against Pakistan. Call it the fear of the pitch or lack of dedication, Indian batsmen looked far behind their ability. Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Aamir bowled brilliantly, but it was not so that the entire 20 overs could not be played.

After three wickets for 89 runs in 11.1 overs, India lost seven wickets in a span of 30 runs and the team was all out at 119 runs in 19 overs. Naseem Shah, who had put India in trouble earlier also, had sharpness in his bowling. He took three wickets for 21 runs. Pant certainly scored a struggling 42 runs in 31 balls

Rain disrupted the match even before it started. The toss was also delayed by half an hour. Babar Azam won the toss. He invited India to bat on a pitch conducive for fast bowlers. After the toss, it started raining again before the match could start, due to which the game could not start at 8:30 pm according to Indian time. After this, it was decided to start the match at 8:50 pm.

Rohit Sharma (13) hit a six over square leg on Shaheen's ball in the first over, it felt like something special was going to happen. As soon as the first over ended, it started raining again. When the game started after 20-25 minutes, Virat (4) showed that he was going to target Pakistan again by hitting a four on Naseem's first ball, but in the same over he could not send the ball over point and was caught. 

Before this, he has played innings of 78*, 36*, 55*, 57 and 82* runs against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. This is the second time he got out against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. In the third over, Rohit (13) got out while trying to hit a six like the first over on Shaheen. India lost its opening pair within 19 runs.

After early wickets fell, Axar Patel was sent to support Rishabh Pant at number four. He also hit a four and a six on Shaheen in the fifth over. In the sixth over, Pant hit two fours on Aamir to take India to 50 runs in the powerplay. India's score in the powerplay was 50 runs for two wickets. Pant also gave four tough chances to Pakistan in the first 14 balls. Naseem bowled out the settled Axar in the eighth over. He scored 20 runs in 18 balls with the help of two fours and a six. Both added 39 runs in 30 balls. Pant hit three consecutive fours on Rauf in the 10th over to take India to 81 for three wickets in 10 overs.

At one stage India's score was 89 runs for 3 wickets in 11.1 overs. Here Rauf dismissed Surya Kumar (7). From here onwards, there was a flurry of wickets. Pakistani fast bowlers looked more dangerous with the old ball than the new one. Naseem dismissed Shivam Dube (3) while Amir dismissed Pant and Jadeja (0), who had made 42 runs in 31 balls with the help of 6 fours, on two consecutive balls, taking the score to 96 runs for 7 wickets. India lost 4 wickets in the gap of seven runs. India scored 100 runs in 16 overs. Rauf dismissed Hardik (7) and Bumrah (0) on two consecutive balls