Ishan Kishan smashed a stunning 77 as India put on 175/7 batting first in the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. On a slow wicket, Pakistan used as many as 6 spinners to restrict the hosts to a respectable total. India captain Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube and Tilak Varma all made valuable contributions while Saim Ayub returned with figures of 3/25.
India's 175/7 is the highest in an India vs Pakistan match in T20 World Cup history.
On a tacky surface, Pakistan put India into bat. Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for his second duck of the tournament. Kishan built an 87-run partnership with Tilak Varma, scoring 77 of those. But Kishan’s attempt to give himself space and carve Ayub over mid-wicket had disastrous consequences.
The Indian opener missed the ball altogether to lose the bails as Pakistani players heaved a sigh of relief. From there, they clawed back bit by bit, and Ayub was at the forefront of their revival. The offie jettisoned Tilak and Hardik Pandya off consecutive deliveries as India suddenly slipped to 126 for four from 126 for two in the 15th over.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube could not flex their whole muscle but did enough to add 33 runs to take India past the 150-run mark and eventually to a total that will take good chasing.
Dube also handled mystery spinner Usman Tariq, who was kept back till the 11th over, stealing a couple of boundaries. Tariq too had his moment when he priced out Suryakumar in the 19th over. But a 15-run final over by Afridi in which Dube and Rinku Singh tore into him pushed India into the 170 territory.
