In the ICC T20 World Cup group match, India defeated Pakistan by 61 runs to qualify for the Super Eight stage.
The match was played at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, where Pakistan captain Salman Agha won the toss and elected to field first. Notably, the captains of both teams did not shake hands at the toss.
Batting first, India posted 175 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs.
Indian opener Abhishek Sharma was dismissed in the very first over by Salman Agha without scoring. The second wicket fell at the expense of Ishan Kishan, who played a brilliant knock of 77 off 40 balls before being bowled by Saim Ayub.
In the 15th over, with the total at 126, Tilak Varma was dismissed by Saim Ayub after scoring 25 runs. On the very next delivery, Hardik Pandya was sent back for a duck, giving Saim his third wicket.
India’s fifth wicket fell at 159 when captain Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for 32 by Usman Tariq. Shivam Dube contributed 27 runs, while Axar Patel was dismissed without scoring.
For Pakistan, Saim Ayub claimed three wickets, while Usman Tariq, Shaheen Afridi and Salman Agha took one wicket each. One Indian batter was run out.
Chasing a target of 176, Pakistan were bowled out for 114 in 18 overs.
Usman Khan was the top scorer for Pakistan with 44 runs. Shadab Khan scored 14, while Faheem Ashraf added 10 runs.
For India, Hardik Pandya, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel took two wickets each, while Tilak Varma and Kuldeep Yadav claimed one wicket apiece.
