India put up a professional performance over Pakistan in the opening of the World Cup events with a seven-wicket demolition, which shows the domination of the ‘Men In Blue’ over the arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC World Twenty20 in Dhaka on Friday.
The Indian spinners did a commendable job in restricting Pakistan to a modest 130 for seven after electing to bowl at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.
Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma then gave India a flying start with a 54-run opening stand in eight overs and the game take over by Virat Kohli (36 not out) and Suresh Raina (35 not out) steered their team to victory with an unfinished partnership of 66 for the fourth wicket.
India thus maintained their fourth victory against Pakistan in World Cup events.
Pakistan never beaten India in the 50-over World Cup or the World Twenty20 and they found runs hard to come by against the steady Indian attack led by Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja.
As wickets fell at regular intervals on the slow pitch, Umar Akmal top-scored for Pakistan with 33 on 30 balls.
Dhoni, the captain of Indian team described the victory as “fantastic” with good contributions from batsmen as well as bowlers.
“There were a few dropped catches and it would have been better if we had taken them,” he said. “But apart from that, it was a fantastic game. Rohit and Dhawan gave us a good start and Kohli and Raina capitalised on that. It is good to see Raina among the runs, because with him around it gives us the firepower in the middle order.”Dhoni said.
He warned Mishra “I think Mishra bowled 70-75 percent of what he can bowl,” Dhoni said. “But we are not sure of playing three spinners every time. A lot will depend on whether there is evening dew or not.”
However, Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez stressed that one defeat did not signal the end of the tournament for his side and they will surely win the upcoming games.
The victory was a sweet revenge for India`s last over loss against Pakistan in the Asia Cup at the same ground, less than a month ago.
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