In the opening match of the T20 World Cup between India and Pakistan, the men in blue defeated Pakistan by four wickets.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first. Bhuvneshwar started on a high note giving just one run in the first over. In the next over, Arshdeep Singh took a crucial wicket on his first delivery at the mega event. He dismissed Pakistan skipper Babar Azam on a Golden duck. Arshdeep further dismissed Mohammad Rizwan. Team Pakistan's wickets kept falling but Iftikhar Ahmed and Shan Masood smashed half-century each to register a target of 160 runs.
India lost early wicket as openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma went back to hut. India lost three wickets in powerplay after their star batter Suryakumar Yadav got dismissed. Axar Patel got dismissed through run-out and disappointment spread amongst the fan. However, Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli stabilized India's innings. Virat Kohli smashed half-century and guided India to win with his amazing batting.
Alas! It was redemption for India. The previous time when both the arch-rivals met in the mega event was back in the year 2021, when Pakistan defeated India by 10 wickets.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Pakistan Playing XI: Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Asif Ali, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
