T20 WORLD CUP - India lose to Pakistan for first time in World Cup

T20 WORLD-CUP

DUBAI: A supremely stylish Babar Azam broke a 29-year-old jinx by guiding Pakistan to an emphatic 10-wicket victory over India in the ICC T20 World Cup here on Sunday, their first in 13 attempts against the bitter arch-rivals at a global event.

The law of averages had to catch up with India sooner or later after having won seven ODI and five T20 World Cup games since they first met at Sydney in 1992.

It was also a day when Virat Kohli scored a half-century but was pale in comparison of Babar (68 not out off 52 balls), who looked regal in attack, elegant in defence and composed in a chase of 152, which was achieved in 17.5 overs.

Worse, India haven’t ever lost a T20 International by 10 wickets and Pakistan won by such a margin for the first time, and what an occasion to achieve the feat.

Babar had the exuberance of Mohammed Rizwan (79 not out off 55 balls) to match his cool quotient as Pakistan, not for once during the entire match, looked like imploding. In between them, they hit 12 boundaries and five sixes to make it a ‘Super Sunday’ for Pakistan.

On the day, there was only one team that could have won and that was Pakistan, who were better on a man-to-man comparison with each Indian player.

It started with the captains. On a track where Kohli struggled, Babar just effortlessly found the gaps and when required, hit those sixes as release shots.