India vs. Pakistan: Five Talking Points

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India extended their World-T20 winning streak over Pakistan to 5-0 as they won by 6 wickets and 13 balls to spare. Pakistan did well to post a total of 118 runs in a rain-curtailed match of 18 overs per side. However, Kohli made sure that India register their first win in World T20 2016 without further hiccups as he played an important knock of 55*(37). Here are the Five major talking points from the match-

Indian spinners make Life Difficult for Pakistani Batsmen

The pitch at Eden Gardens proved to be another hunting ground for the spinners as Ashwin and Jadeja dried up the runs and made scoring difficult for Pakistan’s batsmen. Ashwin bowled three overs for just 12 runs and Jadeja picked up 1 wicket for 20 runs in his 4 overs. Raina also chipped in with 1-4 bowling just a single over in the match.

Pandya takes a Stunner to dismiss Sharjeel and also dismissed ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi later

Hardik Pandya took a stunner at long off to dismiss Afridi off Raina’s bowling. Afridi tried to heave Raina over long off for a six and ended up mistiming it. Pandya dived forward to grab the opportunity with both hands.

Akmal and Malik get Pakistan back into the match

Pakistan were going nowhere with only 50 runs on the board in the first 10 overs. But cameos from Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik provided much needed acceleration to the Pakistani innings and ensured that Pakistan get to a decent total of 118-5 in 18 overs. Malik scored 26(16) wheras Akmal also played a good knock of 22(16).

Pakistani Seamers make early in-roads into the Indian innings

Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Sami struck early to reduce the Indians to 24-3 within the first 5 overs of Power-Play. First, Amir dismissed Rohit Sharma in the 2nd over of the innings and then Mohammad Sami struck twice in consecutive deliveries to remove Dhawan and Raina in succession.

Kohli drives India to victory

The Onus was once again on India’s most dependable batsman Kohli to drive India home after they suffered early jitters. First he forged an important partnership of 61 runs with Yuvraj and then a crucial partnership of 35 runs with Dhoni to steer India home. Kohli remained unbeaten on 55(37) as India won by 6 wickets and 13 balls to spare.

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