India and Pakistan each participated in one match during the T20 World Cup 2024. The Indian team secured a comfortable win against Ireland, whereas Pakistan suffered a defeat to co-hosts USA in Dallas, decided by a Super Over.
Both teams will now turn their attention to their upcoming match, where they’ll face off against each other. The highly anticipated encounter is slated to take place at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Sunday, June 9th.
India have historically dominated their arch-rivals in T20 World Cup matches. Of the seven meetings between the two teams, India has emerged victorious five times, while Pakistan has won once. One match ended without a result.
The most recent encounter between the two teams at the T20 World Cup occurred in 2022 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. A superb performance by Virat Kohli guided the Indian team to victory, with the winning run scored on the final ball of the over.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first. India made an impressive start, with Arshdeep Singh removing Mohammed Rizwan and Babar Azam within the initial four overs. Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed later formed a crucial partnership to rescue Pakistan from a precarious situation.
During the powerplay, Pakistan scored 32 runs for the loss of two wickets and reached the 50-run milestone in the ninth over. By the halfway point, they were at 60/2, with Shan Masood batting on 29 and Iftikhar Ahmed on 21. Iftikhar accelerated his innings, reaching his fifty off just 32 deliveries with the help of two fours and four sixes.
Just as Pakistan seemed to be gaining control, Mohammed Shami dismissed the threatening Iftikhar, swinging the momentum back in India’s favour. Hardik Pandya then took charge, claiming three quick wickets to reduce Pakistan to 115/6 within 16 overs.
Masood, anchoring the innings from the opposite end, reached his fifty from 40 balls. He concluded unbeaten on 52, while a late surge from Shaheen Afridi (16 off 8) boosted the team’s total to 159/8 in their allotted 20 overs. Hardik and Arshdeep claimed three wickets each, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shami taking one wicket each.
Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 82 led India to victory against a strong Pakistan bowling attack
Pakistan’s new-ball bowlers struck back, dismissing Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul with only 10 runs on the board. With India in a precarious position, Virat Kohli stepped up to take charge.
The former captain ran aggressively between the wickets to keep the score moving, but Haris Rauf’s sheer pace dismissed Suryakumar Yadav, stalling India’s run chase. With India struggling at 26/3, the team management sent Axar Patel ahead of Hardik Pandya to capitalize on a left-hand-right-hand combination.
However, this strategy failed as Axar was run out. He attempted a single that wasn’t available and was sent back by Kohli. Despite initially fumbling the chance, wicketkeeper Mohammed Rizwan managed to recover and execute the runout.
Facing a second consecutive T20 World Cup defeat against Pakistan, India saw Hardik Pandya join Virat Kohli at the crease, where they forged a crucial 113-run partnership for the fifth wicket. At the halfway point, India was 45/4, needing 115 runs from the remaining 60 balls.
Gradually increasing their scoring rate, they added 55 runs in the next 30 balls to stay in contention. Kohli and Hardik maintained the momentum, reducing the target to 31 runs needed from the final two overs.
Rauf bowled three excellent deliveries before Virat Kohli played an extraordinary shot, lofting a waist-high length ball straight over the bowler’s head, stunning the Melbourne crowd. He then hit another six over fine leg, reducing the target to 16 runs off the final six balls.
Mohammad Nawaz dismissed Hardik Pandya on the first ball and gave away just three runs from the next two, swinging the momentum towards Pakistan. Virat Kohli then hit a full toss for six, which was called a no-ball, bringing the target to six off three balls.
After Kohli ran three, Dinesh Karthik was stumped. With two runs needed off the final ball, Nawaz bowled a wide, and Ravichandran Ashwin hit the winning shot over mid-on, sealing India’s victory.
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