DUBAI: Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan smashed unbeaten half-centuries as Pakistan crushed India by 10 wickets on Sunday to register a first win over their arch-rivals in a Twenty20 World Cup but defeated captain Virat Kohli warned: "It's not over yet".
Chasing 152 for victory, Babar (68) and Rizwan (79) steered their team home with 13 balls to spare in Dubai. Left-arm quick Shaheen Shah Afridi set up victory - Pakistan's first over their neighbours in six attempts in the tournament - with figures of 3-31 that restricted India to 151-7 despite a valiant 57 from Kohli.
"This is the first time we've beaten India and I feel proud," said Afridi. In the aftermath of the victory, celebratory gunfire erupted in the Pakistani cities of Islamabad and Karachi.
Babar reached his fifty with a six off spinner Varun Chakravarthy. Rizwan raised his fifty with a boundary off pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah and then raced past his captain, hitting six fours and three sixes in his 55-ball knock. Babar hit the winning runs to turn a new page in Pakistan-India rivalry.
"We did not execute the things that we wanted to but credit is certainly due - they outplayed us today," admitted Kohli. "They were very professional with the bat as well but we're certainly not a team that presses the panic button, it's the start of the tournament, not the end."
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In front of 20,000 fans in the stadium and a global TV audience of hundreds of millions, Afridi set the tone. He struck the first blow with an express delivery that swung in to trap Rohit Sharma lbw for a first ball duck.
The 1.98 metre bowler got KL Rahul with a delivery that came in sharply to take the batsman's thigh pad and rattle the stumps. Kohli scored his 29th T20 fifty to help the team rebuild before being caught behind off Afridi as Pakistan dismissed the star batsman for the first time in a T20 World Cup game.
Tickets for Sunday's contest - the first between the two sides since the 2019 50-over World Cup - were sold out hours after they went online and entry passes were being offered at inflated prices by resale websites with some advertised for $250 with $6,000 for corporate boxes.
The South Asian nuclear rivals have only played in multi-national events like World Cups and the Champions Trophy as strained relations have stalled bilateral cricket since 2007. Pakistan did tour India in 2012 for five limited-over matches but ties were not fully resumed as the two nations continued to be at loggerheads over multiple issues, with the disputed region of Kashmir and terrorism heading the list.
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India and 2009 champions Pakistan are placed in Group 2 of the round-robin Super 12 stage of the tournament along with New Zealand, Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia. The top two in each of the two pools progress to the semi-finals. Earlier Sunday, Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by five wickets in a feisty Group 1 clash in Sharjah.
Chasing an imposing target of 172, the 2014 champions saw Charith Asalanka (80 not out) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (53) lead them to victory for a fourth successive win after three triumphs in the qualifying round. Mushfiqur Rahim, with an undefeated 57 and opener Mohammad Naim, who hit 62, starred for Bangladesh after being put into bat.
England, Australia, South Africa and West Indies are the other teams in the group. Asalanka made his runs from 49 balls, hitting five fours and five sixes as he and Rajapaksa put on 86 for the fourth wicket. Both men were dropped by Liton Das with Rajapaksa, on his 30th birthday, reprieved after he had made only 14.
Bangladesh had made 40 by the sixth over before they lost their first wicket and the sparks flew. Liton Das (16) was caught by Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka at mid-off trying to hoist Lahiru Kumara into the outfield. However, Liton and Kumara then exchanged angry words with fellow Bangladesh opener Naim pushing away Kumara. Kumara went on to bowl a 'beamer', clocked at over 140kmh, at Mushfiqur in the penultimate over, forcing the Bangladesh player to take evasive action.
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