(UTV | INDIA) – The Rohit Sharma-led Indian team returned the favor to Pakistan as they demolished the boys in green by a margin of 5 wickets.
The entire match was built on how Babar Azam and co. had the upper hand over the Indian team when they met in the ICC T20I World Cup 2021. Pakistan had defeated India by a margin of 10 wickets and as a result, this crushing defeat derailed their campaign and dampened their spirits for the rest of the tournament.
When India took on Pakistan for their first group A match, things looked balanced. Both these sides lost their spearhead before the tournament began and relied on their batsmen to do most of the talking on the field with their skills.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first. Feeling the presence of dew affecting the game in the later half, it was quite safe for Rohit and co. invite Pakistan to bat first.
Indian speedsters such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, and Hardik Pandya used the short ball ploy against Pakistan and left them completely bamboozled. Pakistan was restricted to a score of 147.
When India came out to bat, they were put into trouble early with Naseem Shah dismissing KL Rahul. Batters like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma also could not have any impact on the game. It was the likes of Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja who helped India sail through a rough sea before they could seal the match by 5 wickets.
With this incredible win, Rohit Sharma became the only captain besides MS Dhoni to win a T20I match against Pakistan. The World Cup winning captain has led India in 8 T20I matches against Pakistan and has won 7 matches.
On the other hand, there is former Indian captain Virat Kohli who had led India in just one T20I match against Pakistan but ended up losing it. It is surprising that Virat has never led India in any edition of the Asia Cup either.
India now have momentum on their side and they now want to improve from here and defend their title against some of the big cricketing nations of Asia.