WESTBURY, N.Y. — Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah took a vital wicket to swing momentum and help India to a six-run win over archrival Pakistan on Sunday in a low-scoring Twenty20 World Cup thriller on Long Island.
After being shocked by co-host United States in the Super Over at Dallas in its opening game, Pakistan recovered well to dismiss India for 119 in 19 overs on another tricky pitch at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.
In its chase, Pakistan stuttered to 113-7 in 20 overs against a menacing pace attack led by Bumrah’s match-winning figures of 3 wickets for 14 runs in four overs, and with Hardik Pandya chipping away with 2-24.
“At the halfway stage we got together and said if things can happen to us, they can happen to them too. … Bumrah is going from strength to strength,” India skipper Rohit Sharma said. “I’m not going to talk too much about him — we want him to be in that kind of mindset until the end of this World Cup. He’s a genius with the ball.”
Indeed, Pakistan appeared to be cruising at 80-3 in 14 overs before Bumrah cannoned a ball into the stumps to dismiss Pakistan’s top-scorer Mohammad Rizwan for 31 and Iftikhar Ahmed holed out in the deep off the last ball of a terrific spell.
Pakistan’s middle-order batters were squeezed so much in the so-called death overs that it could hit only two boundaries in the last 36 deliveries.
Needing 18 off the last over, Naseem Shah (10 not out) smashed Arshdeep Singh for two boundaries before he left the field with tears in his eyes and was consoled by his batting partner Shaheen Shah Afridi.
It was the second-lowest total ever successfully defended at the men’s T20 World Cup. It was the lowest total India had ever defended in a full T20 international and helped extend its mark to 7-1 in T20 internationals against Pakistan.
Pakistan’s back-to-back losses put the 2022 runners-up on the brink of a group-stage exit.
India beat Ireland by eight wickets in its opening game at the same ground and leads Group A with four points and a better net-run rate than the U.S. team, which also has four points from its wins over Canada and Pakistan.
Only two teams from each of the four groups advance to the second stage. So Pakistan needs to win its remaining games against Canada and Ireland and also hope the results of other group games go in its favour to progress to the Super 8s.
“The pressure was on us,” Pakistan captain Babar Azam said. “You can’t expect too much from tailenders. We were not up to the mark in the first six overs, we had targeted 40-45 runs, but we couldn’t capitalize properly.”
Pakistan’s bowlers contained India’s highly-regarded batting lineup after rain delayed the start of the match by almost an hour.
Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf each returned figures of 3-21 and Mohammad Amir, who came out of retirement for the World Cup, grabbed 2-23.
“I think we did well as a bowling unit, but this is a decent total on this track,” Amir said in an interview during the innings break, an ominous warning for his batters. “We need to bat well and sensibly. It’s a bit tricky. We need to start well and finish well.”
Rishabh Pant, who was dropped twice in a top-scoring knock of 42 off 31 balls, was one of only three India batters to reach double figures, along with Axar Patel (20) and Sharma (13).
Patel and Pant shared the best partnership of the innings with 39 runs for the third wicket before the middle-order struggled.
India batting great Virat Kohli lasted just three balls. He struck a boundary off Shah’s first ball before he mistimed another big drive off the fast bowler and was caught in the covers.
Drop-in pitches with variable bounce at the purpose-built 34,000-capacity stadium have been in focus since the tournament began.
The International Cricket Council had to revisit the wicket square of four drop-in pitches after the first two games. The pitches have given little respite to the batters so far in a cricket format that is really designed for high scoring.
Scotland gets second win
Brandon McMullen hit an unbeaten 61 runs from 31 balls — including two sixes and nine fours — as Scotland beat Oman by seven wickets with 41 deliveries remaining later Sunday at North Sound, Antigua, for its second win in Group B.
Oman chose to bat first and scored 150-7 with Pratik Athavale (54) and Ayaan Khan (41 not out) dominating the innings.
Scotland reached 153-3 in 13.1 overs with opener George Munsey scoring a 20-ball 41 with four sixes.
Scotland, which got a point from its washed-out opener against England, also had a win over Namibia and tops the group with five points from three games. Defending champion England has just one point — from the washout — after its weekend loss to Australia.
