India 129-2 after 17 overs
Kohli 78, Yuvraj 19
Easy for India… it was always going to be a walk in the park for the batsmen if Pakistan did not get wickets early on. They did not take advantage of Gambhir’s early dismissal and let Kohli and Sehwag build a fine partnership. Yuvraj then came on and supported Kohli to reach the target with three overs to spare.
India 126-2 after 16 overs
Kohli 77, Yuvraj 17
What a batsman Virat Kohli is. Simply outstanding. He comes down the track on a length delivery clocking 142 kmph and slams it through the covers for four. He then gets a free-hit and dispatches it in the same area for four more. Brilliant.
India 110-2 after 15 overs
Kohli 64, Yuvraj 15
Both players scoring runs down the ground. First it’s Kohli though, who plunders a flat six off Ajmal and then it’s Yuvraj who gets four runs as he perfectly times Afridi past long-on.
India 91-2 after 13 overs
Kohli 58, Yuvraj 6
Sehwag’s gone but he’s done a good job. His approach much better and less reckless. Kohli piles on another fifty… the lad just can’t stop scoring at the moment. Yuvraj has opened his boundaries account with a well played sweep.
WICKET! India 75-2 after 10.3 overs
Virender Sehwag c Gul b Afridi 29 (24b, 4×4, 0×6)
Sehwag first plays the perfect cut shot for four and then gets greedy. His attempt to clear long-off fails and Umar Gul has taken a fine catch on the ropes.
India 70-1 after 10 overs
Kohli 43, Sehwag 25
Dropped! Kohli top edges a short ball to point and Umar Akmal takes a fine diving catch before it slips out of his hands. Great effort though.
India 59-1 after 9 overs
Kohli 33, Sehwag 24
Close… very close as Kohli gets a thick-edge on a turning Afridi delivery and it’s past the keeper’s gloves for four. If there was a first slip, that would have been gone.
India 45-1 after 7 overs
Kohli 24, Sehwag 19
Kohli dances down the track and clobbers a six over long-off. Afridi doesn’t know where that came from— and it was a quicker delivery. With that six in the bag, India take it easy for the rest of the over.
India 36-1 after 6 overs
Kohli 16, Sehwag 18
India are taking it slow and rightly so. There’s no need to go for the desperate runs. Kohli has cut away an absolute beauty off Ajmal and it’s very hard to execute it when the ball is coming straight and quick towards you.
Reuters
India 30-1 after 5 overs
Kohli 11, Sehwag 17
Easy picking for Sehwag as Raza bowls down the leg-side for him to paddle away to the fine-leg boundary. And tell you what, he’s whistling while standing at the non-striker’s end.
India 22-1 after 4 overs
Kohli 9, Sehwag 11
Two cracking fours for Sehwag in the over. Umar Gul has changed his tactics to bowling short rather than full and gets punished for it. Sehwag smacks the first four through the offside before going over the top of mid-on.
India 11-1 after 3 overs
Kohli 8, Sehwag 2
Just two from Raza. He’s putting a lot of revolutions on the ball and it is reacting with some sharp turn. Kohli missed a shot which could have taken an edge and gone anywhere.
India 9-1 after 2 overs
Kohli 7, Sehwag 1
Kohli edged Raza for four before Umar Gul’s over. It’s been pretty tight, especially because Sehwag is playing very cautiously. He’d rather do that than just waste his wicket.
WICKET! India 1-1 after 0.2 overs
Gautam Gambhir c & b Raza Hasan 0 (2b, 0×4, 0×6)
Caught and bowled! Raza fools Gambhir with his spin and the batsman gives it straight to him. Disastrous start for India.
INDIA COME OUT TO BAT
WICKETS! Pakistan 128 all out after 19.4 overs
Umar Gul c Dhoni b Balaji 12 (10b, 1×4, 1×6)
Saeed Ajmal c Dhoni b Balaji 1 (2b, 0×4, 0×6)
SIX and then GONE! Umar Gul, who was surely the only remaining batsman who can hit the big ones is gone after slicing a full-toss to Dhoni. Then Ajmal tries to sweep one and the top edge is straight to Dhoni again. Pakistan are all out. The Indians will already be smelling a win.
WICKET! Pakistan 115-8 after 18.1 overs
Yasir Arafat run out 8 (11b, 1×4, 0×6)
Gone! Yuvraj with a direct hit and Arafat is short by an inch as the bails come off. Was that what Srikkanth was talking about? That Yuvraj is a winner?
WICKET! Pakistan 115-7 after 17.3 overs
Umar Akmal c Raina b Ashwin 21 (18b, 0×4, 1×6)
One Umar’s gone as he tries to sweep it over the field and another one comes out. Umar Gul was the man who did it all against South Africa, but can he do something tonight to get Pakistan out of this sticky situation?
WICKET! Pakistan 106-6 after 15.2 overs
Shoaib Malik c Sharma b Ashwin 28 (22b, 3×4, 0×6)
Malik’s done well but there’s always risk when you go for the big shots. Malik tries to loft it over mid-wicket but he can’t quite clear the man. Just when Pakistan seemed to be set for a good finish, they’ve lost their best batsman available.
Pakistan 97-5 after 14 overs
Umar Akmal 18, Malik 21
Irfan’s over a tad expensive with 12 runs coming off it. It included a ferocious six from Umar over mid-wicket but Ashwin’s brought back normalcy in the 14th over. He gives away just five runs and has used the carom ball a couple times too.
Pakistan 80-5 after 12 overs
Umar Akmal 8, Malik 15
Clever cricket from Malik. Kohli, after bowling a few good overs has delivered a couple of loose balls and both of them have been well placed by Malik for four— one through sweeper cover and other cut away past third man.
Pakistan 65-5 after 11 overs
Umar Akmal 4, Malik 5
Tuk-tuk cricket in a T20? Yes, that’s what is happening with Pakistan at the moment. Yuvraj and Kohli have sprung a fine surprise for their batsmen.
WICKET! Pakistan 59-5 after 9.5 overs
Mohammad Hafeez b Kohli 15 (28b, 1×4, 0×6)
Bowled him! Kohli gets in the act now. Hafeez completely beaten and the stumps are disturbed. Pakistan struggling.
WICKET! Pakistan 49-4 after 8.2 overs
Kamran Akmal c Dhoni b Yuvraj Singh 5 (6b, 0×4, 0×6)
Another wicket and Pakistan are falling apart! Yuvraj invites Kamran to play it though the covers, gets a faint edge and Dhoni erupts in celebration a split second later.
Reuters
Pakistan 47-3 after 8 overs
Hafeez 9, Kamran 3
Kohli’s been introduced to the attack now and he’s given just three runs in his first over. He aimed the ball at the batsmen’s feet more often and Hafeez hasn’t quite got any room to manouvre.
WICKET! Pakistan 43-3 after 6.4 overs
Nasir Jamshed c Dhoni b Yuvraj Singh 4 (5b, 0×4, 0×6)
Three down and it’s Yuvraj who does the damage. He may not have had an explosive innings in this tournament so far, but he’s been very effective with the ball. Jamshed gets a faint edge to Dhoni and the finger goes up.
Pakistan 42-2 after 6 overs
Hafeez 7, Jamshed 4
Ashwin has been brought into the attack and his first over costs just six runs. If India continue like this, then we should see another low-scoring affair in the Super Eights.
WICKET! Pakistan 35-2 after 4.4 overs
Shahid Afridi c Raina b Balaji 14 (12b, 2×4, 0×6)
He came, he scored a couple of boundaries and he’s gone. Afridi’s dismal run with the bat continues as Balaji uses the short ball to dismiss him. Afridi’s pull was straight to Raina at deep square-leg.
Pakistan 33-1 after 4 overs
Hafeez 3, Afridi 13
Excellent over from Irfan. He’s found his rhythm, is mixing up his deliveries and restricts the two attacking batsmen to running between the wickets. That, without a long-on for Hafeez is commendable.
Pakistan 28-1 after 3 overs
Hafeez 2, Afridi 9
Good tight over from Zaheer after his first one went for 13 runs. He doesn’t give the room to Afridi, who has already got his eye in and Hafeez has been calmer than usual. Fair start for India.
Pakistan 26-1 after 2 overs
Hafeez 1, Afridi 8
Ah and Afridi’s off to a flyer! He blasts two boundaries as soon as he comes on. The first one of those was a blinder through mid-on.
WICKET! Pakistan 17-1 after 1.1 overs
Imran Nazir lbw b Pathan 8 (5b, 2×4, 0×6)
There we go! First wicket for India as Pathan has Nazir in a fix… the shot misses and he’s gone LBW.
Pakistan 13-0 after 1 over
Nazir 4, Hafeez 1
Well, not a great start for Zaheer. He’s got smacked for a four first and on the very next ball he gives away 5 wides down the leg side. And to top it all, Sehwag drops Hafeez’s outside edge at first slip.
Pakistan have won the toss and will bat first
India squad: MS Dhoni, G Gambhir, R Ashwin, L Balaji, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh
Pakistan squad: Mohammad Hafeez*, Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal†, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat, Raza Hasan, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal
PRE-MATCH
More controversy regarding the selection of Virender Sehwag. Kris Srikkanth has told CNN-IBN that India should drop Piyush Chawla and include the struggling batsman. He also says that Yuvraj Singh shouldn’t be dropped since he is a match winner. Read the full report here.
As India prepare to take on Pakistan in a do-or-die match in the World T20 tournament, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is asking his team to find a way to express themselves in the middle.
“It is also important that we go into the field and just express ourselves because we may not lose badly; we may not have worse game than what happened (against Australia)… so let’s go out there and express ourselves and play our shots and bowl with confidence and whatever the result maybe let’s not care about the result because it is a very different format you cannot do a lot of planning. Just go out, you have the talent, you have the resources just express yourself,” said Dhoni.
Read the full preview of the Indo-Pak match here.
