MELBOURNE: India collected 2 points in style by beating arch rivals Pakistan in a tight contest in the Super 12 encounter at the MCG on Sunday, Oct.23.
Kohli and Pandya fought valiantly with a brilliant partnership of 113 runs and required 16 runs off the last over. Pandya fell for Nawaz in the first ball of the last over and karthik fel in the 5th ball.However Nawaz bowled a wide and allowed India to tie the score. Ashwin hit the winning run in the last ball of the match.
Batting first Pakistan set a target of 159 for 8 wickets off the 20 overs after being 15 for 2 wickets in the 4th over. Ardeep Singh picked up the prize wicket of Babar Azam and Mohamed Rizwan the 2nd and 4th over of the innings. Singh ended up with a spell of 3 for 32 while Hardik Pandy picked up 3 for 30 runs. Masood and Ahmed picked half centuries to help Pakistan to set a formidable target of 160 runs.
India got off to a sloppy start while chasing the 160 run target. India were struggling at 31 for 4 wickets in the 7th over. Kohli and Pandya held the Fort together and brought stability to the Indian innings. Pandya hit a brilliant 40 runs but Nawaz picked up his wicket in the last over when needing 16 runs to win. Kohli batted brilliantly for 82 runs off 53 balls to take India through for a magnificent win. H Rauf picked up 2 wickets for 36 runs.
India reached the target with 160 runs for 6 wickets off 20 overs. (RZ)
