India thump Pakistan in grudge match to sail into Super Eight

Defending champions India thumped Pakistan by 61 runs in a grudge Group A match of the Twenty20 World Cup to secure their place in the Super Eight stage of the tournament on Sunday.

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Ishan Kishan’s breakneck 77 powered India to 175-7 at the R Premadasa Stadium where Pakistan's spin-heavy attack managed to apply the brakes to an extent after the opener's exit.

The tournament co-hosts returned to bundle out Pakistan for 114 in 18 overs to register their third win in a row.

The match went ahead after Pakistan earlier reversed their decision to boycott the game in solidarity with Bangladesh, who refused to tour India over safety concerns and were replaced by Scotland.

Salman Agha and his India counterpart Suryakumar Yadav did not shake hands at the toss, though.

India were reinforced by the return of Abhishek Sharma, who missed the first two matches with a stomach infection, but the opener could not make it count.

Pakistan captain Salman sprang a surprise by opening the attack himself and the move paid off as the spinner trapped Abhishek lbw to remove the reigning number one batter in T20 Internationals.

Pakistan used three spinners in the powerplay to try and stem boundary flow and India’s score of 52-1 after six overssuggested the ploy worked to an extent.

Kishan could not be contained though and the diminutive southpaw tore into the Pakistan attack with his take-no-prisoners batting.