India vs Pakistan LIVE: T20 World Cup final score, result and reaction today
Pakistan beat great rivals India in T20 World Cup showdown
Captain Babar Azam led by example as Pakistan beat India in a World Cup showdown for the first time ever with a 10-wicket romp in a Super 12 blockbuster at the Twenty20 World Cup on Sunday.
Virat Kohli played a captain’s knock of 57 to rescue India from a top-order wobble and help them post a competitive 151-7 in a rematch of the inaugural 2007 final.
His counterpart Babar combined with Mohammad Rizwan to get Pakistan off to a flying start and then overwhelmed the target with 13 balls to spare to snap India’s 100% win record against them in limited-overs World Cups.
Babar remained not out on 68, while Rizwan made an unbeaten 79.
Wary of the dew factor, captains have preferred to field and Babar too followed that trend after winning the toss.
Pakistan did not have to wait long for a breakthrough as Shaheen Afridi (3-31) struck twice in his first seven deliveries to rattle India.
The left-arm pacer fired in a searing yorker-length delivery to dismiss Rohit Sharma lbw for a golden duck and, in his next over, rifled one through KL Rahul’s gate to rearrange the stumps.
Suryakumar Yadav hit Afridi for a six but Rizwan took a diving catch behind the stumps to dismiss the batsman and reduce India to 31-3 in the sixth over.
Kohli and Rishabh Pant calmed nerves in the Indian camp and guided the team to 60-3 at the halfway stage of the innings.
Pant then decided to counter-attack and hit Hasan Ali for back-to-back sixes but his ultra-aggression ultimately did him in.
Shadab Khan foxed Pant with a googly to induce a skier which the spinner caught himself to dismiss the batsman for 39.
Kohli fell in the penultimate over of the innings trying to accelerate but India still made the 150-mark.
Pakistan, in their reply, not only kept their wickets intact in the powerplay overs but also scored briskly with Babar and Rizwan effectively killing off the contest with their rock-solid stand.
Babar brought up his fifty in style, hitting spinner Varun Chakravarthy for a six, while Rizwan reached his own fifty with a pulled boundary off Jasprit Bumrah.
Farewell!
That just about does us for this evening’s live coverage of a supreme win for Pakistan against India. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were a class apart as the dew descended in Dubai and reeled in a trick target virtually flawlessly after Shaheen Shah Afridi had led a strong bowling performance.
We’ll have plenty of reaction in the next couple of days to an historic victory for Pakistan, their first at a World Cup over their neighbours. What a way to start the Group 2 action as an already thrilling T20 World Cup rolls on.
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Next up!
A thoroughly intriguing encounter in Sharjah is tomorrow’s fare from the UAE - it’s Scotland, so impressive in the first round, against Afghanistan. Can Scotland keep their form going? Chris Greaves was their standout in the preliminary round with his skiddy leg-spin and clean striking - it will be interesting to see how he goes against a potentially uber-attacking Afghanistan batting line-up constructed of new-wave hitters reared on this format of the sport.
Beyond Afghanistan’s more established globe-trotting stars, look out for Ramanullah Gurbaz and Hazratullah Zazai, two of the most exciting young ball-strikers anywhere in the world.
Perfection for Pakistan
A quirk of the schedule means New Zealand are also the next opponents for Pakistan at Sharjah on Tuesday. It looked relatively batting friendly today as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka both found scoring easy. You’d expect Pakistan to go in unchanged.
That was a brilliant start to the tournament for Babar Azam and his team, who didn’t need to use their batting depth, but were vindicated in their decision to pick Mohammad Hafeez by two economical overs from their veteran part-timer to exploit the match-up with Rishabh Pant. New Zealand will probably also have a right-hander heavy top five but Hafeez could again be key against Devon Conway.
Changes for India?
Virat Kohli did not commit to changes but with their next game also in Dubai, against New Zealand, the way the pitch played tonight will surely see Shardul Thakur’s cutters come in for consideration, while India may also think about an extra spinner - if Hardik Pandya was fit to bowl, that would be even more likely, but his injury makes balancing the side tougher. We’ll see how fit Pandya is after not taking the field in the second innings. If he is out, India could include Thakur or Ravichandran Ashwin at number seven and go bowling heavy, or a long-term injury could open the door to Axar Patel from the reserves, who would probably be the best fit for that spot.
That New Zealand game is not until next Sunday - plenty of time to ponder.
Virat Kohli on his side’s defeat
“We did not execute the things that we wanted to, but credit where it is due, Pakistan out-played us today. They did not give us any chances and were very professional and effective today.
“The pitch played very slowly in the first half but the dew helped it come on in the second innings. You know the conditions will change in the batters’ favour in the second innings so you need those extra runs in the first innings.
“We are certainly not a team that presses the panic button. It is just the start of the competition. There will be a chat about what we want to do in the next game.”
Open season
That is the third time that this Pakistan opening pair has put on more than 150 for the first wicket. Remarkable stuff. Mohammad Rizwan averages 95.90 as an opener in T20 internationals!
Player of the Match - Shaheen Shah Afridi
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will rightly get plenty of plaudits for an utterly flawless chase, but it was Shaheen’s new-ball burst that set the tone for an exceptional win. He returned at the death to take out Virat Kohli, too - a high quality display from a special, special bowler.
Pakistan win by 10 wickets with 13 balls to spare!
They’ve done it! Pakistan have beaten India at a World Cup FOR THE FIRST TIME! What a way to do it! A clip from Babar Azam to long-on, a hurried two completed comfortably even on fatiguing legs, and Pakistan have been utterly, utterly supreme in chasing down India’s 151.
Babar ends with an unbeaten 68 off 52 balls; Mohammad Rizwan with 78 from 55. Ten wickets in hand and 13 balls to spare. Emphatic. Magnificent.
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