ICC World Twenty20: India start with a win
ICC World Twenty20: India start with a win and the perfect start with a seven-wicket victory over great rivals Pakistan in Mirpur.
MS Dhoni’s men have hardly set the cricketing world alight in the build-up to the ICC tournament in Bangladesh but never looked in any trouble as they chased down their target of 131 in 18.3 overs.
Pakistan struggled to get going in their innings and hit just 11 fours and two sixes, with Umar Akmal top scoring with 33 off 30 balls.
Sohaib Maqsood’s 21 late in the innings helped Pakistan limp to 130-7 and that never looked like being enough as India got off to a fine start in response.
Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma reached 54-0 inside eight overs before India’s innings suffered something of a mini-collapse as three wickets fell in quick succession.
Virat Kohli (36) and Suresh Raina (35) steadied the ship before seeing India over the line as they got their first win on the board in Group 2.
The victory was India’s fourth over Pakistan in the T20 format and Dhoni said that with the exception of a couple of bits of poor fielding it had been a solid showing.
“A few dropped catches, it would have been better if we could have taken them, apart from that it was a fantastic game,” he said.
India are now 6/4 to win Group 2, with Australia 15/8 and Pakistan now 7/1 after the defeat.
Next up for India is a game against the defending champions West Indies, while Pakistan face another difficult game against the in-form Australians.
ICC World T20 2014 schedule: Match time table with venue details
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