IND vs PAK | Twitter disappointed as Pakistan fail to defend competitive total against India

‌India won the toss and chose to put Pakistan into bat in their first Super Fours game against India. There was a bit of drama in the first over as Sahibzada Farhan was dropped in the first over, bowled by Hardik Pandya. Though the Indians managed to get the crucial wicket of Fakhar Zaman in the third over in the power play, Farhan and Ayub found their rhythm and finished the power play on a solid score of 55/1 after the first six overs. The two put on 72 runs for the second wicket, Farhan completing his half-century in 34 balls, and Ayub looking good on a score of 21. This put them in a dominant position at the halfway stage, with the score reading 91/1. Though the Men in Blue struggled in the first half, with Pakistan scoring at a brisk rate and some terrible mishaps in the field, they made a decent comeback in the second half as Shivam Dube dismissed both set batters and Kuldeep Yadav chipped in with a wicket of Husain Talat. As wickets started to fall, the Green Shirts suddenly slumped to a score of 119/4 with five overs to go. Though the last five overs gave India a bit of hope to come back in the innings, the crucial cameos from Salman Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, and Faheem Ashraf made sure the Green Shirts ended the first innings on a competitive total of 171/5. 

Though the score looked challenging on paper, it did not affect the Indian openers, who started the innings in style as Abhishek Sharma welcomed Shaheen Afridi with a massive six on the first delivery of the innings. The momentum of the first ball carried on as the Men in Blue ended the power play in a strong position at 69/0. Both openers carried on with the onslaught until the partnership of 105 was finally broken by Faheem Ashraf, who knocked over Gill on 44 in the 10th over. Though there was a bit of worry created as Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed cheaply by Haris Rauf, Abhishek continued the run flow and put India in a comfortable position before being dismissed for 74 in the 13th over. The Indian team needed only 46 runs in the last 42 deliveries, with the score at 126/3. Though India was in a comfortable position, the Pakistan bowlers managed to keep the hopes alive after the southpaw's dismissal, as Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma struggled to time their shots in the middle. There seemed to be another twist as Rauf ended Samson's sluggish knock in the 17th over, but Varma managed to find some rhythm towards the end and completed the chase with seven balls to spare and six wicklets in hand.

Kohli!

Lol!

On fire!

Big one!

Big six!

Win!

Six!

Haha!

Yeah!

Pandya!

Hardik!