Bumrah stars as India defend low total
India put Pakistan on the brink of elimination from the ICC Twenty20 World Cup yesterday outlasting their perennial rivals by six runs in a low-scoring game on another comatose pitch at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.
Sent in, India mustered only 119 all out from 19 overs, the lefthanded Rishabh Pant the only one to fire with 42 off 31 deliveries with half-dozen fours, and Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf both picking up three for 21.
Outstanding seamer Jasprit Bumrah then produced a high quality Man-of-the-Match spell of three for 14 as India defended the lowest ever total at a men’s T20 World Cup, to pull off a stunning victory.
The result propelled India top of Group A with their second win in as many matches with four points, ahead of co-hosts United States only on net run rate.
Pakistan, meanwhile, lie one from bottom without a win in the tournament but with games remaining against Canada and Ireland.
India were 19 for two in the third over after losing former captain Virat Kohli (4) and his successor Rohit Sharma (13) cheaply, but Pant stitched together two key partnerships to rebuild the innings.
First, he put on 39 for the third wicket with Axar Patel (20) before adding a further 31 for the fourth wicket with Suryakumar Yadav (7),
Naseem and fellow seamer Mohammad Amir (2-23) then ripped through the middle and lower order as India lost their last seven wickets for 30 runs.
In reply, Pakistan were well placed at 80 for three at the start of the 15th over thanks largely to opener Mohammad Rizwan’s 31 from 44 deliveries.
However, Bumrah went through Rizwan’s swing and bowled him, and then dried up the scoring as Pakistan gathered only 30 runs from the last 30 balls of the innings.