India outplayed Pakistan in all facets of the game to win the contest by 61 runs at R.Premadasa Stadium on Sunday (February 15) and make it 8-1 against the traditional rivals in T20 World Cups.
Riding on Ishan Kishan’s swashbuckling 77 off just 40 balls, the defending champions racked up 175/7 on the board. Suryakumar Yadav (32 off 29), Shivam Dube (27 off 17), Tilak Varma (25 off 24) and Rinku Singh (11* of 4) also made handy contributions with the bat on a tacky wicket.
In reply, Pakistan’s innings folded for a mere 114 in 18 overs. Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Varun Chakaravarthy picked up two wickets each for India, while Kuldeep Yadav and Tilak returned with scalp apiece.
After the match in Colombo, Pakistan pace legend Waqar Younis was in awe of India’s batting riches. He highlighted their bench strength by citing the example of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who isn’t even part of the current T20I squad.
“But what’s great is the quality of some of the guys they left out. Someone like Yashasvi Jaiswal, I really like his batting. And will want to see him come in and bat some day. But overall it’s a very strong team and there’s the bench and others outside,” Waqar said while speaking on Star Sports.
Waqar expressed his disappointment over Pakistan’s bowling performance, saying that they were not prepared for the long haul after getting the prized scalp of Abhishek Sharma for a duck in the very first over.
“While batting needs to be aggressive at all times in T20, bowling is different. You need to stay consistent and disciplined. They thought they had the early advantage with dismissing Abhishek Sharma for a duck, and bowled as if the job was done. The captain allowed Ishan Kishan to score, and the spinners did not stay disciplined at all. We have been speaking about Usman Tariq for two weeks now, and he bowled well. Bur Salman held him back and didn’t bring him on earlier. The Indian batsmen took advantage of that indiscipline,” he added.
Commenting on Pakistan’s shambolic batting display, Waqar suggested the match was out of their hands once India posted 170+ on a surface heavily favoring the spinners. “They had no chance after the early collapse,” he remarked.
With this win, India sealed their place in the Super 8s. They will face Netherlands in the last group-stage fixture in Ahmedabad on February 18. On the other hand, Pakistan cannot afford any slip-up against Namibia if they want to qualify for the super eight phase of the tournament.
