WESTBURY, N.Y. (AP) — Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah took a key wicket to turn the tide and help India beat arch-rival Pakistan by six runs in a thrilling, low-scoring Twenty20 World Cup match on Long Island on Sunday.
after that Shock to co-host country America In the opening Super Over in Dallas, Pakistan made a spectacular comeback, dismissing India for 119 in the 19th over on another difficult pitch at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.
Chasing Pakistan stumbled to 113-7 in the 20th over with a menacing pace attack that was inching closer with Hardik Pandya taking 2-24 and Bumrah’s decisive three-wicket performance for 14 runs in his four overs.
“We said at the middle stage of the match, if it can happen to us, it can happen to them… Bumrah is going from strength to strength,” India captain Rohit Sharma said. “I won’t talk much about him. We want him to be in that mindset till the end of the World Cup. He is a genius with the ball.”
Indeed, Pakistan looked comfortably ahead at 80 for 3 after the 14th over, but then Bumrah smashed the ball into the stumps to dismiss Pakistan’s top-scorer Mohammed Rizwan for 31 and Iftikhar Ahmed was run out in the deep with the last ball of a brilliant delivery.
Pakistan’s middle-order batsmen were under huge pressure in the so-called death overs, hitting just two boundaries in the final 36 balls.
Needing 18 runs from the final over, Naseem Shah (10 not out) hit two boundaries off Arshdeep Singh and left the field with tears in his eyes and was consoled by batting partner Shaheen Shah Afridi.
This was the second-lowest run ever defended in a Men’s T20 World Cup. It was also the lowest run India have defended in a full T20 international match, helping them improve their record in T20 internationals against Pakistan to 7-1.
Pakistan’s consecutive losses have left them in danger of being eliminated from the group stage as runners-up in 2022.
India lead Group A with four points after beating Ireland by eight wickets in the opening match at the same ground, and have a better net points percentage than the US team, which also has four points after wins over Canada and Pakistan.
Only two teams from each of the four groups can advance to the second stage, so Pakistan will need to win their remaining matches against Canada and Ireland and hope for favourable results in their other group matches to reach the Super 8.
“The pressure was on us,” Pakistan captain Babar Azam said. “You can’t expect much from the later batsmen. The first six overs didn’t live up to our expectations. We were aiming for 40-45 runs but we didn’t capitalise.”
The start of the match was delayed by nearly an hour due to rain, but Pakistan’s bowlers kept India’s highly-rated batting line-up in check.
Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf took figures of 3-21 each while Mohammed Amir, who came out of retirement for the World Cup, took 2-23.
“I think we’ve done well as a bowling team but given the form we’re in it’s not a bad total,” Amir said in an interview after the innings break – an ominous warning for the batsmen. “We have to bat well and bat smartly. It’s a bit difficult. We have to start well and finish well.”
Rishabh Pant, who top-scored with 42 off 31 balls but was got out twice, was one of only three batsmen to reach double figures for India along with Akshar Patel (20) and Sharma (13).
Patel and Pant put on the best partnership of the innings, putting on 39 runs for the third wicket before the middle order struggled.
India’s great batsman Virat Kohli needed just three balls to finish. He hit a bound off Shah’s first ball before mistiming another big blow from the fast bowler and having him caught at covers.
Since the tournament began, attention has been focused on the purpose-built 34,000-seat stadium’s variable-bound drop-in pitch.
The International Cricket Council had to reconsider the wicket squares on the four drop-in pitches after the first two matches, and so far the pitches have given little rest to the batsmen, as the format of cricket is actually designed for high scores.
Scotland take second win
Brandon McMullen smashed 61 runs off 31 balls – including two sixes and nine fours – without concede as Scotland beat Oman by seven wickets with 41 balls remaining at North Sound in Antigua on Sunday afternoon to record their second win in Group B.
Oman chose to bat first and Prateek Atavale (54) and Ayaan Khan (41 not out) dominated the innings to post a score of 150 for seven.
Scotland reached 153-3 in 13.1 overs with opener George Manjhi hitting four sixes off 20 balls.
Scotland is The first match against England ended in failure.They also beat Namibia and top the group with five points from three games, while defending champions England have just one point after their loss to Australia at the weekend.
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