India are the defending gold medal winners, having won the competition in 2023 in China.
India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to bat first. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi set the pace with 15 off 9 balls before he was dismissed, while Sanju Samson fell for 2. Abhishek Sharma was going great guns at the other end, taking on the Pakistani bowlers.
He smashed 61 in 28 balls, with his 50 coming in 20 balls. Abhishek hit 3 fours and 7 sixes before his dismissal to Arafat Minhas. Shreyas Iyer (21) and Ishan Kishan (20) got started but couldn’t capitalize, as Pakistani spinners put the brakes on the scoring rate.
However, Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube added 62 runs in 32 balls for the 6th wicket. Dube made 27 in 15 balls, while Tilak hammered 51* in 22 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes as they took India to 211/6 in 20 overs. Ahmed Daniyal (2/43) and Arafat Minhas (2/25) were the best bowlers for Pakistan.
The cricket community praised Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma, as one batter provided a strong start and set the stage for the team, while the other delivered an excellent finish.
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