Rohit Sharma smashed 80 runs of just 53 balls while Gautam Gambhir played a calm knock of 52 runs of just 47 balls to guide India to emphatic 9 wicket win over Pakistan. Chasing the target of 159 runs for victory India achieved the target in just 17 overs with the loss of only one wicket.
Rohit Sharma smashed 9 fours and two huge sixes in his inning of 80 runs, he was finally dismissed in the 16th over by 17 year fast bowler Mohammad Aemer. However when he got out the task for India was much easier with 19 runs needed of last four overs. M.S.Dhoni played some lovely drive in end to finish the match in 17 overs.
This win continued the India winning streak in World Cup against Pakistan. They have never lost a single game to Pakistan in the world cup. In the last world cup also they have played twice with Pakistan and came out as winner on both occasions.
Now India will take on Bangladesh in their first game of twenty20 World Cup on 6th of June at TrentBridge.
Earlier Pakistan Captain Younis Khan won the toss and elected to bat first. But Praveen Kumar strikes with his fifth bowl to dismissed Shahzaib Hasan for duck. However Pakistan batsman continues the counter attack from both ends. With Ahmed Shehzad smashing 25 runs of just 19 balls and Kamran Akmal getting 19 runs of just 9 deliveries. Both put on 43 runs of just 22 balls for the second wicket. But brilliant fielding by Suresh Raina sent Akmal back in the pavilion.
After Akmal dismissal Pakistan loss two quick wickets of both Shehzad and Afridi (0 run of 1 ball), so score of 45/1 in the fifth over suddenly slipped to 45/4 at the end of 6th over. But Thanks to Younis Khan (32 runs of 32 balls) and Misbah-Ul-Haq (37 runs of 30 balls) and in the end some great hitting by Yasir Arafat (25 runs of 16 balls) Pakistan reached a comparative total of 158/6 in 20 overs.
Once again Indian bowlers failed to bowl good line and length in the depth overs. They conceded as many as 45 runs in the last four overs to allow Pakistan to reach a decent total.
