India maintain all-win record against Pakistan in a World Cup meet

Mirpur (Bangladesh), March 21:

India, riding on a fine show by its spinners, maintained its all-win record in an International Cricket Council (ICC) meet against Pakistan as they beat the arch-rivals by seven wickets in the tournament opener of the World Twenty20 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium here Friday.

Leggie Amit Mishra picked up two for 22 as Indian spinners put on a fine act to restrict Pakistan to 130 for seven in 20 overs. Mishra was adjudged as the Man of the Match for his miserly act with the ball.

While chasing, Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 36 and Suresh Raina on 35 as India romped home safely with seven wickets in hand and nine balls to spare.

But the credit must go to the Indian openers Rohit Sharma (24) and Shikhar Dhawan (30) who laid the foundation of the chase with their 54-run stand.

Rohit finally came back to form with a blistering 21-ball innings that was studded with one four and two sixes. On the other end, Dhawan also kept the runs flowing hitting five fours in his 28-ball knock

Spinner Saeed Ajmal (1/18) was the best among the Pakistani bowlers and castled Rohit with a delivery that turned sharply in the eighth over. Two overs later, Ajmal took a good catch in the deep to get rid of Dhawan, who was done in again by a short-pitched delivery from Umar Gul.

Yuvraj Singh (1) also fell soon as from a comfortable 54 for no loss, India were down to 65 for three.

But Kohli and Raina made sure with their unbeaten 66-run stand for the fourth wicket that India reached home without any more loss. Kohli struck four fours and a six in his 32-ball. Raina also hit equal number of fours and a six in his 28-ball innings.

Earlier, Pakistan batsmen faltered right from the start after they were put in by India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Umar Akmal was the top scorer with 33 while Ahmed Shehzad (22) and Shoaib Maqsood (21) also made valuable contributions.

Dhoni’s decision to attack with three spinners did the trick as the trio of Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja (1/18) and Ravichandran Ashwin (0/23). The three bowlers between then gave away just 63 runs from 12 overs.

The Pakistani batsmen also had to blame themselves for the poor show. Umar Akmal (8) was run out while attempting a dangerous single while skipper Mohammad Hafeez (15) when batting on five almost got himself out as Yuvraj Singh dropped him while attempting a dive.

Shehzad worked hard for his runs but was done in by a classical leg spinner’s delivery from Mishra as he charged down the ground and was beaten by flight and Dhoni whipped off the bails.

Shahid Afridi (8), who played a stellar match-winning knock here at the same venue against India three weeks ago, failed to repeat the act and fell while sweeping pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar to Raina in the deep.

Pakistan:

Kamran Akmal run out (Kumar) 8
Ahmed Shehzad st Dhoni b Mishra 22
Mohammad Hafeez c Kumar b Jadeja 15
Umar Akmal c Raina b Mohammed Shami 33
Shoaib Malik c Raina b Mishra 18
Shahid Afridi c Raina b Kumar 8
Sohaib Maqsood run out (Jadeja/Dhoni) 21
Bilawal Bhatti not out 0

Extras (lb 2, w 3) 5

Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 130

Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Kamran Akmal, 1.5), 2-44 (Mohammad Hafeez, 7.3), 3-47 (Ahmed Shehzad, 8.2), 4-97 (Shoaib Malik, 15.2), 5-103 (Umar Akmal, 17.2), 6-114 (Shahid Afridi, 18.5), 7-130 (Sohaib Maqsood, 19.6)

Bowling:

Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-23-0
Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-0-21-1
Mohammed Shami 4-0-31-1
Amit Mishra 4-1-22-2
Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-18-1
Yuvraj Singh 1-0-13-0

India:

Rohit Sharma b Saeed Ajmal 24
Shikhar Dhawan c Saeed Ajmal b Umar Gul 30
Virat Kohli not out 36
Yuvraj Singh b Bilawal Bhatti 1
Suresh Raina not out 35

Extras (w 5) 5

Total (for three wickets in 18.3 overs) 131

Fall of wickets: 1-54 (Dhawan, 7.6 overs), 2-64 (Sharma, 9.3), 3-65 (Yuvraj Singh, 10.1)

Bowling:

Mohammad Hafeez 3-0-14-0
Junaid Khan 3-0-23-0
Saeed Ajmal 4-0-18-1
Umar Gul 3.3-0-35-1
Shahid Afridi 3-0-24-0
Bilawal Bhatti 2-0-17-1

Toss: India chose to field

Player of the match: Amit Mishra (India)

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and Richard Kettleborough (England)

TV umpire: Nigel Llong (England)

(IANS)