India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup: Indian Pacers Restricted Pak at  159 Runs

Key Highlights

• India opted to bowl first
• Arshdeep Singh dismissed Babar on his very first ball of the T20 World Cup 2022
• In the powerplay, Pak scored 32 runs at a loss of 2 wickets
• Iftikhar scored his 2nd T20I half-century for Pakistan and later got dismissed at 51(34)
• Arshdeep and Pandya took 3 wickets each for India.
• Shan Masood scored 52*(42)
• Pakistan set a target of 160 for India

So the wait for the India vs Pakistan T20 match in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 is over. After their previous T20I defeat in Asia Cup 2022, India look forward to avenge it. India won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first. The first inning started with Rizwan and Babar on the crease to face the attack of Arshdeep. On the first ball of the Arshdeep’s spell, India got the first wicket of Babar, who got fallen for a golden duck to Arshdeep Singh. Arshdeep was at his pace today and got another big wicket of Rizwan. Pakistan lost both their opener in the first four overs.

With the tight balling, India allowed Pakistan to take only 32 runs with a loss of 2 big wickets during the power play. Shan Masood and Iftikar tried to hold and stabilize the shivering inning with their partnership, but Shami’s and Pandya’s spells didn’t allow the duo to hit boundaries.

Right from the bowling to fielding, the Men in Blue looked confident in their body language, leaving no room for Pakistan to find the gap to score boundaries. Hardik Pandya loose 10 runs in the 10th over, taking Pakistan’s score to 62-2.

Iftikhar hit the first six of the inning in the 11th over. Pakistan was waiting for this boundary and finally witnessed 4 back-to-back boundaries from the bat of Iftikhar. 3 sixes in the single over, and Iftikhar completed his 2nd T20I half-century in 34 balls. Shami disrupts this rhythm by sending Iftikhar back to the pavilion in the 13th over.

Shadab came into the crease and opened his inning with a four. However, Pandya dismissed him in the 14th over. Shadab was gone after 5(6), and a tremendous wicket was credited to the account of India. That was a tremendous catch from Surya Kumar Yadav.

In the same over, we witnessed an action replay of the previous dismissal. Haider hit hard to Pandya, but the ball went to a higher sky. Surya didn’t mistake dismissing Haider at 2(4). After 15 overs, Pakistan scored 106 runs with a loss of 5 wickets.

Nawaz came into the crease and tried hard to turn the inning the favor of Pakistan. In the 16th over, he was on the stump to witness the ball of Pandeya but nicked to the keeper and was gone at 9(6).

One more wicket was credited to the account of the youngest player, Arshdeep. In the 17th over, Asif Ali was bounced out by Arshdeep and was gone at 2(3). Masood was settled on the other side when Pakistan was losing wickets and successfully earned a half-century in the 19th over.

Afridi settled on the crease in the last second over and hit boundary after boundary. However, in the last over Afridi was gone at 16(8). Bhuvneshwar dismissed Afridi with a short length on the body.

Harif came into the crease and finished the first inning at 159/8. So after 20 overs, Pakistan’s sluggish inning came to an end. The Indian side was outstanding during their time on the ground. India’s pacers did a tremendous job as they didn’t let any partnership from Pakistan go and grow, restraining their arch-rivals at a score of 159. Let’s see how Men in Blue will perform against the fine-pace attack of Pakistan.

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