Pakistan secured their first-ever win against India in a world cup match in nearly three decades. The Green Shirts did so in an emphatic fashion by registering a 10-wicket win thanks to a three-wicket haul by left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi and captain Babar Azam and his deputy Mohammad Rizwan put the icing on the cake with their half-centuries and a recording setting 152-run partnership.
The resounding victory marks Pakistan’s maiden 10-wicket victory in a T20I game while India lost a 20-over game by 10 wickets for the first time as well.
It was the third time that Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan put on a partnership of more than 150 runs. They made it first against England and then South Africa. Interestingly, the three stands were made in their last 10 stands. The record for the opening stand in a T20 World Cup, which was 145 runs by West Indies batters Chris Gayle and Devon Smith in the opening game of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, was smashed as well.
Moreover, Babar Azam has never been part of a losing Pakistan side when it comes to T20Is played in the United Arab Emirates so far. His winning streak started back in 2016 in the series against West Indies in which the Green Shirts defeated their Caribbean counterparts 3-0 in the series. He was part of the side that emerged victorious in the two 20-over games against Sri Lanka in 2017 before the side went on to whitewash Australia and New Zealand in 2018. Babar averages 57.50 and has a strike rate of 118.55 by amassing 460 runs across 12 T20 innings in the Gulf.
There are only two batters in T20I who have an average of more than 50 in T20Is. Virat Kohli and Mohammad Rizwan. The latter gained prominence after he was selected in the side to play as an opener in place of Babar Azam, who was injured, and went on to score 89 against New Zealand in Napier. Since then, he has amassed 920 runs with the bat at an average of 102.22 with a strike rate of 141.33.
Shaheen Shah Afridi is one of the Pakistani players who are making their debuts in the T20 World Cup and made his presence fell by dismissing Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in his first two overs of the game against India. He completed his three-wicket by taking the all-important wicket of the Indian skipper. Since the start of 2020, the left-arm pacer has had 93 dismissals in T20Is to his name – which is the most by any pacer in the world.
Kohli is leading India for the first time in this year’s edition and it is not the start he would have wanted but the prolific right-handed batter scored 57 runs from 49 deliveries, consolidating his impressive performances against Pakistan in T20 World Cups. He has been dismissed for the first time in his four T20 World Cup innings by the Green Shirts. He averages 226.00 against Pakistan when it comes to T20 World Cups. He started off his impressive run streak with his unbeaten 78-run knock in 2012 in Colombo followed by 36 not out in Dhaka two years later before going on to score an unbeaten 55 in Kolkata.
Since the 2011 World Cup semi-final, He has only been dismissed 12 times by the pacers. He has never been dismissed by a spinner in 18 matches in over a decade.
Veterans Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez are the only two players which have been playing T20 Internationals since the country played its first-ever 20-over game which was back in 2006 against England. The duo is among the four cricketers that have a career span of over 15 years in T20Is. The longest T20I career span goes to Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo of the West Indies.
