T20 World Cup: India beat Pakistan by six runs

India defeated Pakistan by six runs in the highly-anticipated T20 World Cup 2024 clash at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Jasprit Bumrah bowled a superb spell as Pakistan were restricted to 113-7 in their 20 overs chasing a mere 120-run target.

Mohammad Rizwan played a lone hand of 31 off 44 deliveries as his wicket triggered a collapse for Pakistan.

Apart from him, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman and Usman Khan scored 13 runs each.

Earlier, Naseem Shah was the star of the show with the ball as he claimed three wickets for just 21 runs from his four over spell as the Men in Green bowled out the arch-rivals for just 119 in 19 overs.

Haris Rauf also claimed figures of three for 21 from his three overs while Amir claimed two wickets for Pakistan.

The Pakistani pacers dominated the Indian batters completely and didn’t give them much room to shine.

Shah struck in his first over with a prize scalp of Virat Kohli, while Shaheen removed skipper Rohit Sharma in his second over.

Axar Patel and Rishabh Pant made a vital 39-run stand to avoid a collapse. However, he too was removed by Naseem in the eighth over.

India looked in good touch with Pant and Yadav at the crease but the latter was removed by Rauf and to trigger Indian collapse.

Soon after SKY’s wicket, India lost wickets in quick succession as Amir removed Pant (42 off 31) and Ravindra Jadeja on successive deliveries.

Rauf did the remaining damage and the entire Indian team was soon all out for just 119 runs in 19 overs.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl first on Sunday.

Pakistan team was seeking redemption following their upset to the USA in their tournament opener.

Head-to-head game are rare between the two countries. The two teams do not meet outside of official competitions of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the last Test match between Pakistan and India was in 2007.

India will face Pakistan in Group A match at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, which has the capacity of 34,000 people.

The tickets for the high-profile clash were sold out months ago.

Playing XIs:

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Siraj

Pakistan: Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir