The Sports Buff ⚽️ ⚾️ 🏈

Defending champions India kept their World T20 hopes on track with an emphatic 61-run win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the third game of Group A. Being asked to bat, the Indians got off to the worst possible start, as Abusheik Sharma (one of India’s key players) got out cheaply.

The scorecard read 1-1. Advantage Pakistan. India were caught out by the element of surprise. Captain Salman Ali Agha had ball in hand for the first over, and his line and length was good enough to stifle the Indian batsmen early on.

Losing the early wicket opened a door for 2009 World T20 Champions Pakistan with an opening, but like several matches over the years between the two sides, holders India found a way to navigate through a metaphorical dark hole.

Ishan Kishan (77) and Tilak Varma, the two former Mumbai teammates, put on 87 for the second wicket, a partnership which was broken by a superb spell of bowling from Saim Ayub (3-25).

This dismissal brought India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav to the crease, who, for his normal standards, was a bit watchful in his 29-ball 32. Sky’s men did have a bit of a wobble.

Ayub was on a hat-trick at one stage, but Shivam Dube, the man facing the hat-trick ball, narrowly survived. Dube (27 off 11) made a handy lower-order contribution before being bowled by a wide ball.

Despite Saim Ayub’s superb bowling, a crucial last over from Shaheen Afridi leaked a lot of runs and didn’t make a difference to the result, but allowed India 10-15 more runs than they should have got.

Pakistan, in response, got their reply off in just as bad a fashion as what India did. Opening batsmen, Sahibzada Farhan made a four-ball duck and opening partner Saim Ayub fell straight after, succumbing to a superb Jasprit Bumrah yorker.

It didn’t get any better for Pakistan as their top batsmen came and went. Only wicket-keeper Usman Khan, who has had some fierce critics in the Pakistani press, can come out with any self-respect.

Khan top-scored for his side with a well-played 44. Pakistan crumbled to 113 all out and were well beaten, which means that India are through to the Super 8’s. Pakistan should join them despite the defeat, but they will need to win against Namibia on Wednesday, 18th February, just to be sure.