Pakistan brought to an end India’s near-three-decade domination over them in the world stage in the most convincing fashion, embarrassing their arch-rivals by 10 wickets in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup. Skipper Babar Azam stroked his way to 68 while his opening partner, Mohammad Rizwan, smashed 79 as the Indian bowlers struggled to contain the two batters.
Earlier, Virat Kohli’s half-century helped India recover from a disastrous start and post 151/7 against Pakistan in ICC T20 World Cup match on Sunday. Besides Kohli’s 49-ball 57, Rishabh Pant slammed 39 in 30 deliveries.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam won the toss and invited India to bat first but the early blows were landed by the men in green as openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul departed within three overs. Kohli and Pant then joined forces to add 53 runs in quick time before the latter was caught out by leg-spinner Shadab Khan (1/22 in four overs) off his own bowling in the 13th over.
Afghanistan put Scots on the rocks
On a night when Afghanistan batsmen rained sixes in Sharjah, their off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman owned the stage, the match and the night. Mujeeb bamboozled the Scotland batsmen with guile and craft as he made his T20 World Cup debut unforgettable with figures of 5 for 20. The result: Scotland, chasing Afghanistan’s 190/3, were bundled out for 60 in 10.2 overs handing their opponents a massive 130-run victory. The win took Afghanistan’s winning streak at the venue to 17.
Scotland began to unravel in the fourth over when skipper Kyle Coetzer lost his stumps to a wrong ’un from Mujeeb and the next delivery was a similar one and an indecisive MacLeod, looked to play it on the leg side but took the ball on the pads to be adjudged leg before wicket. The youngster missed a hat-trick but finished the over with three wickets with Richie Berrington becoming his third wicket.
Asalanka, Rajapaksa star in Lanka win
The Charith Asalanka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa shared a partnership of 86 to give Sri Lanka a five-wicket win over Bangladesh in their opening Super 12 match in the Twenty20 World Cup in Sharjah on Sunday.
Asalanka remained unbeaten on 80 from 49 balls and Rajapaksa, celebrating his 30th birthday, hit a 31-ball 53 to help Sri Lanka chase down a 172-run target with seven balls to spare. Put in to bat, Bangladesh posted 171 for four after opening batsman Mohammad Naim anchored the innings with a 52-ball 62 and the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim smashed an unbeaten 57 off 37 balls. Sri Lanka’s bowlers had done most of the damage in the preliminary round matches and it was left to the batsmen to keep the winning run intact for the 2014 champions.
Six-wicket win for England
West Indies were bowled out 55 – their lowest score in world T20 and the third lowest in T20 World Cups – against a disciplined England attack. England, who thrive on teamwork, notched up the six-wicket win in 8.2 overs, boosting their Net Run Rate in a group where it can go down to the wire. While England did what was expected of them, it was the spectacular implosion of the West Indian batting that was beyond belief. It was the lack of a Marlon Samuels or a Shivnarine Chanderpaul like figure that kept hurting them as things spiralled out of control. Everyone seemed to believe that the only way of scoring runs was to hit big sixes, but West Indies found out the hard way that it doesn’t always work like that on pitches where the ball stops just a bit.
Australia beat SA by 5 wickets
Australia beat South Africa by five wickets in their opening Super 12 Group 1 match of the T20 World Cup. Australia chased down the target of 119 in 19.4 overs with Steve Smith scoring 34-ball 35. For South Africa, Anrich Nortje took two wickets while Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi got one each. Earlier, Electing to bowl, Australia restricted South Africa to a meagre 118 for nine.
Aiden Markram scored 40 for the Proteas after their top-order crumbled. Kagiso Rabada was the next best batter for them with an unbeaten 19-run knock at number eight. Fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood (2/19) and Mithcell Starc (2/31) took two wickets apiece while spinner Adam Zampa (2/21) also accounted for two batters.
