Chasing a target of 129 to win, India’s new Mr. Dependable Virat Kohli anchored his team to a commanding 8-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan to open up Group 2 in the Super 8 of ICC 2012 World T20.
Kohli’s unbeaten 78 runs off 61 balls helped India overhaul Pakistan’s total of 128 runs with 3 overs spare thus boosting their run-rate as well. India had terrible start to the chase losing Gautam Gambhir in the very first over for 0 off Raza Hasan but Virender Sehwag (29) and Virat Kohli combined well in the middle stitching together a partnership of 74 runs in 10.1 overs.
Later, Kohli with Yuvraj Singh (19*) motored along clobbering the spinners to parts of the park reaching their target in 17 overs.
For Pakistan Shahid Afridi and nRaza Hasan picked up one wicket each.
The game as it happened...
Over: 17 I Score: 129/2
Ajmal came into the attack, Yuvi got a single in the first ball and after three dots Kohli got one and scores were level with one ball remaining. Yuvi nudged the final ball behind square to seal the match in India's favour. INDIA WON THE MATCH BY 8 WICKETS WITH 18 BALLS TO SPARE
Over: 16 I Score: 126/2
Virat Kohli hit an inside out shot over the inner circle for a boundary after he was dropped in the deep. Kohli then creamed one past point on a free hit. 16 runs off the over.
Over: 15 I Score: 110/2
Shahid Afridi into the attack and Yuvraj crashed it to long-on fence. 10 runs of over.
Over: 14 I Score: 100/2
Virat Kohli hit a big SIX in the first ball of the Saeed Ajmal's third over dancing down the track and hoisting the ball well over long-on region.
Over: 13 I Score: 91/2
Mohammad Hafeez came into the attack and after 5 decent deliveries Yuvraj smashed the final ball for a boundary towards deep backward square leg fence.
Over: 12 I Score: 84/2
Another half century by Virat Kohli as he clipped a leg side ball for a double to deep square. 7 runs off the over.
Over: 11 I Score: 77/2
Sehwag pierced the backward point region with a deadly slice for a boundary. But in the next ball, Sehwag was holed out in the deep by Umar Gul as he went for a maximum over long-off.
Sehwag c Umar Gul b Shahid Afridi 29(24) [4s-4]
Over: 10 I Score: 70/1
Kohli creams a full length delivery from Arafat past extra cover and then uses the pace of the ball to guide it to third man boundary. back to back boundaries for India. Sehwag was then dropped by Umar Akmal at point. a tough chance. 11 runs off the over.
Over: 9 I Score: 59/1
Kohli earned a boundary courtesy an edge as Afridi dropped a half chance off Sehwag. 8 runs off the over.
Over: 8 I Score: 51/1
Hasan Raza bowled his third over conceding 6 singles.
Over: 7 I Score: 45/1
As customary, Shahid Afridi came into the attack followed by Ajmal and he also started off by a ripper delivery, a quicker one and Kohli was nearly beaten but in the third ball, Kohli danced down the track and hit a 84 meters SIX straight over long-off.
Over: 6 I Score: 36/1
Dangerous Saeed Ajmal introduced into the attack and starts off with a beautiful ball beating Sehwag all ends up. Kohli then countered it with a stellar cut going inside the crease earning a boundary towards extra cover region.
Over: 5 I Score: 30/1
Raza Hasan into his third over and Sehwag got a boundary paddling a leg side delivery to fine leg boundary. 8 runs off the over including 4 singles.
Over: 4 I Score: 22/1
Four for Sehwag first ball as a wide delivery was slapped past point by the opener. Gul made a good comeback after that bowling two dot balls and giving away 2 singles. He bowled a wide ball and Sehwag smashed the last ball for another boundary over mid wicket.
Over: 3 I Score: 11/1
Raza Hasan with the third over and after 4 dots balls gave away 2 single.
Over: 2 I Score: 9/1
Umar Gul bowled the second over and conceded just 3 runs off the over. 3 singles.
Over: 1 I Score: 6/1
Interesting ploy by Hafeez as he started off with Raza Hasan and he immediately got the wicket of Gautam Gambhir for 0, caught and bowled. It was tossed up delivery Gauti went early with the shot, a leading edge to Raza Hasan. Kohli walked in and he got a boundary courtesy an edge which landed safely wide of first slip and ran away to third man for boundary.
Gambhir c and b Raza Hasan 0(2)
Pakistan Innings
In a crucial ‘do-or-die’ fixture, India bowled out Pakistan for 128 runs with Balaji taking three wickets (3.4-0-22-3) and Yuvraj and Ashwin chipping in with two wickets each. Kohli and Pathan also got a wicket each. For Pakistan, Shoaib Malik top scored with 28 runs.
Over: 20 I Score: 128 all out
Balaji with the last over of Pakistan innings and gave a juicy full toss to Gul, Gul obliged with a massive six over deep square leg. But the very next ball, Gul departed trying to heave the short of length ball but a top edge landed in Dhoni's gloves. Saeed Ajmal was also out trying a paddle sweep, Dhoni with the catch again.
Umar Gul c Dhoni b Balaji 12(10) [4s-1 6s-1]
Ajmal c Dhoni b Balaji 1(2)
Over: 19 I Score: 122/8
Direct hit from Yuvraj Singh from point and Yasar Arafat found himself short of the crease. Next ball, Gul crashed a short delivery from Zak towards fine leg. 6 runs off the over.
Arafat run out (Yuvraj) 8(11) [4s-1]
Over: 18 I Score: 116/7
Ashwin produced the breakthrough in the form of Umar Akmal as he departed trying to hit a short length ball over deep square, Raina took an easy catch. Another excellent over as the offie conceded just 2 runs off the over.
Umar Akmal c Raina b Ashwin 21(18) [6s-1]
Over: 17 I Score: 114/6
Balaji started off with three dot balls with pressure mounting on Arafat. Balaji then bowled a slower bouncer that bamboozled the all-rounder. But in the fifth ball a big heave from Arafat earned a boundary as the top edge flew to third man. 5 runs off the over.
Over: 16 I Score: 109/6
Ashwin struck with the wicket of Shoaib Malik with Rohit Sharma completing a sharp catch at mid-wicket. It was flighted delivery from Ashwin, Malik went down on one knee and tried to slog it over mid wicket but failed. Yasir Arafat came to the crease. 4 runs off the over.
Shoaib Malik c Rohit Sharma b Ashwin 28(22) [4s-3]
Over: 15 I Score: 105/5
L Balaji came back into the attack for his second over. The Pak batsmen got a two singles and a double. Malik then guided a leg-side delivery towards fine leg boundary with a deft touch for a four. 8 runs off the over.
Over: 14 I Score: 97/5
Ashwin came back into the attack for his second over. Started off with a wide and a dot ball. Akmal got a single in the third ball dabbing the ball behind square. After two dot balls Malik got a double steering the ball to deep point and ended the over with a single towards long-on. 5 runs off the over.
Over: 13 I Score: 92/5
Irfan Pathan [2.0-0-18-1] came back into the attack, as Malik and Akmal upped the tempo running between the wicket well. they got couple of doubles and a single in the first three balls. In the forth, Umar Akmal clobbered Irfan Pathan's slower one high over the cow corner for a SIX. 12 runs from the over.
Over: 12 I Score: 80/5
Shoaib Malik got a boundary in the sweeper cover area in the free hit as Kohli bowled a low full toss. Malik then cut a wide delivery from Kohli past short third man for another boundary. The duo of Malik and Umar got 15 runs off the over.
Over: 11 I Score: 65/5
Yuvraj conceded 5 singles in his third over as Malik and Akmal played the left arm spinner cautiously.
Over: 10 I Score: 60/5
Virat Kohli clean bowled Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez as he played on the delivery to the leg stump. India tightened the screw on the run-rate as well. Kohli conceded 4 runs off the over. Umar Akmal walked to the middle.
Hafeez b Virat Kohli 15(28) [4s-1]
Over: 9 I Score: 56/4
Yuvraj with his second over and he scalps another dangerous player, Kamran Akmal this time around, again caught behind by Dhoni. Akmal went for a big heave, the ball spun away a bit getting an edge. Shoaib Malik came to the crease. Hafeez got a boundary off the last ball. It was short and wide and a welcome boundary for Pakistan and Hafeez.
Kamran Akmal c Dhoni b Yuvraj 5(6)
Over: 8 I Score: 47/3
Virat Kohli was introduced into the attack and the medium pacer bowled a good line giving away no room to work for the batsmen. He conceded just 3 runs.
Over: 7 I Score: 44/3
Yuvraj came into the attack and Hafeez had a tough time moving on playing 2 dot balls. He got a single courtesy a long hop pulled through short mid wicket in the third ball. In the fourth ball Yuvraj got the wicket of Nasir Jamshed, caught behind by MS Dhoni, Jamshed looked stunned with the decision given by Richard Kettleborough. Jamshed went for a sweep seeing the flighted delivery, but got a faint edge to the keeper. Good over by Yuvi, conceded 2 runs and got the prized wicket of Nasir Jamshed.
Nasir Jamshed c Dhoni b Yuvraj 4(5)
Over: 6 I Score: 42/2
Spin into the attack as Ashwin was introduced in the final over of the powerplay. In third ball Raina misfielded at mid-off earning Pakistan 2 additional runs. Ashwin conceded 6 runs off his first over.
Over: 5 I Score: 36/2
L Balaji came into the attack and he got the big wicket of Shahid Afridi. Afridi went for a pull shot where he was holed out in the deep mid wicket region by Raina.He had conceded just 2 singles in his first three deliveries and got the wicket in the fourth. In-form batter Nasir Jamshed came to the crease and was off the mark immediately with a gentle push to short mid. 3 runs off the over.
Shahid Afridi c Raina b Balaji 14(12) [4s-2]
Over: 4 I Score: 33/1
Pathan with the 4th over, concedes a single in third and fourth ball after two dots. 2 runs off the fifth ball as Yuvraj dived to save a boundary down the ground. 5 runs off the over.
Over: 3 I Score: 28/1
Zak with the third over, this time a much tidier one, much accurate. 4 dot balls and 2 singles. Concedes just 2 runs.
Over: 2 I Score: 26/1
Irfan Pathan bowled the second over conceding a lucky boundary in the first ball but Imran Nazir was trapped Leg Before Wicket next ball. Afridi came in one down and heaved a full length ball down towards long-on boundary for four in the third delivery. Afridi got another boundary in the last ball muscling the short and wide delivery past the off-side cordon. 13 runs off the over.
Imran Nazir lbw b Irfan Pathan 8(5) [4s-2]
Over: 1 I Score: 13/0
Zaheer Khan started off the proceedings for India with Mohammed Hafeez and Imran Nazir at the crease. First ball was a WIDE and Yuvraj stopped a certain boundary in the second ball diving to his left at cover. Third ball, a single by Hafeez. Fourth ball, Nazir slashed at a wide delivery, the ball flew past the off-side cordon for a BOUNDARY. Zak bowled another wide, this time down the leg-side followed by another wide, Dhoni with the misfield. In the last ball, Virender Sehwag dropped a tough catch of Imran Nazir at first slip. 13 runs of the over.
Welcome to our live coverage of the Super Eight match between India and Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Irfan Pathan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Lakshmipathy Balaji
Pakistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Hafeez(c), Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal(w), Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Raza Hasan
TOSS: Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first.
CHANGES: Virender Sehwag and L Balaji in, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla out.
Pakistan will field an unchanged squad.
Match will start at 7: 30 pm (IST)
Preview
India have never won a Super Eight match since 2007 ICC World T20 and if they fail to win against Pakistan today at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo they would be on the brink of exiting the tournament.
After being pummelled by Australia in the first Super Eight match India would be keen to get back in the game whereas a pumped up Pakistan would be looking for another to put one foot in the semi-finals.
For India, problems are aplenty, exclusion of Sehwag in the last two games have raised questions and the performance of Piyush Chwala against the Australians was also a worrying factor. Experts doubting Yuvraj Singh’s fitness is also something India would be looking into.
For Pakistan the form of their top order of Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed and Umar Akmal is a positive sign but against Indians the spin trio of Saeed Ajmal.
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