In a highly anticipated Men’s T20 World Cup match at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, India successfully defended 119 to beat Pakistan by six runs. Jasprit Bumrah, one of the best bowlers in the world, demonstrated why he is one of the best with a spectacular spell of 3-14, including 15 dot balls.
India was bowled out for just 119 in 19 overs by Pakistan after fast bowlers Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf had identical figures of 3-21. Rishabh Pant top-scored with 42 off 31 balls. However, India managed to claw their way back in courtesy to Bumrah’s heroic stint, which began with him dismissing Mohammad Rizwan.
Hardik Pandya, who took 2–6 from two overs after giving up 18 in his opening two overs, provided him with outstanding support as well. Pakistan, who were 80/3 at one stage, were limited to 113/7 thanks to wickets taken by Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, and Axar Patel, who all got one wicket apiece. This was an incredible low-scoring robbery as India successfully defended their lowest total ever in Twenty20 Internationals.
Chasing 120, Muhammad Rizwan was dropped on seven by a long leg off Bumrah, while Babar Azam started with a forceful on-drive from Siraj. Before the fast bowler had the last laugh, Azam decisively pulled Bumrah for four. His ball had extra bounce and seam action, which took his outside edge to first slip.
Pakistan finished the power play at 35/1 as Rizwan, under pressure to tee off, danced down the pitch and smacked Pandya over long-off for six. Usman Khan ended Rizwan’s nervous run by slapping him over cover for four after the latter survived a run-out opportunity off Hardik. Then, the former produced an inside-out lofted shot off Ravindra Jadeja to pick another boundary.
Replays showed that the ball would have crashed into leg stump, but India recovered on the first delivery following the drinks break when Axar caught Usman leg before wicket with a slider that was coming from wide of the crease.
After hitting Axar for six runs on the ground and whipping Arshdeep for four more, Fakhar Zaman entered the game and top-edged a draw to Pant, who then caught an over-the-shoulder catch off Pandya. Pant darted to his left to take the catch as Pandya bounced out Shadab Khan and Bumrah came back to rattle Rizwan’s stumps.
India kept applying pressure because the boundaries were not coming. As a result, Iftikhar Ahmed took a full toss from Bumrah but holed out to fine leg, who nearly collided with square leg. His spell ended up being the true difference between India winning and losing.
Even though India was forced to use an extra fielder in the 30-yard circle due to an over-rate penalty, Arshdeep successfully caught the inside edge of Imad’s bat on a yorker that Pant collected. Even though Naseem hit Arshdeep two fours, India managed to pull off an incredible heist to secure a memorable victory over Pakistan.
Earlier, just three Indian batters reached double figures on a tough pitch where the ball periodically stopped on them. Pant top-scored with 42, enjoying a mainly lucky life at the crease as his signature unconventional swings yielded greater returns than conventional strokes.
India had reached 89/3 in 11 overs with relative ease when they shockingly lost the plot. With their outstanding bowling, Naseem, Haris Rauf, and Mohammad Amir set off an incredible collapse that saw India lose their final seven wickets for a just thirty runs. India lost batters to bad shots and continued to pick out fielders in an attempt to attack in the middle overs, which prevented them from forming partnerships through careless batting.
Following a 30-minute rain delay and a further 29-minute rain-induced disruption following the opening over, Virat Kohli got things underway with a brilliant cover drive for four runs. However, he took up the ball after Naseem’s wide delivery.
The following over, Rohit Sharma was caught by deep square leg after mishandling a pick-up drive off Shaheen. In three balls, Amir defeated Axar’s outside edge three times in a row before Shaheen was cut and ramped for four and six, respectively.
However, Pant was extremely fortunate as he easily outscored Iftikhar at slip for four off Amir with a strong outside edge. India completed a thrilling power play at 50/2 as Usman slipped a top-edge on his wristy flick at cover and Pant’s attempt to drive again took an outside edge flying over Iftikhar for four more.
Axar attempted to replicate the shot against Naseem by skipping down the pitch to drive over Iftikhar’s head for four, but he misplayed the ball and was trapped. On 17, Pant once more managed to survive as Usman smothered an opportunity to capture his top-edge on the slog-sweep off Imad.
But, Pant’s situation drastically shifted after Haris’ tenth over. A slower ball was lofted over mid-off by him, and he fell to paddle over short fine leg. He then flicked in the same area to pick three fours, and then he produced a beautiful reverse-sweep off Imad to pick another boundary.
However, Pakistan recovered when Shivam Dube chipped a straightforward catch to Naseem off his own bowling and Suryakumar Yadav picked out mid-off against Amir.
Pakistan made sure India couldn’t finish their innings properly by having Rauf hit Bumrah straight to short cover on two deliveries and Pandya flicking to deep backward square leg on one. Azam’s run-out of Arshdeep made guaranteed that India’s innings ended with one over remaining, which was unrelated to their incredible win.
A number of celebrities from the Bollywood business attended the game, either at home or at the stadium. Upon India’s victory, happy messages from fans and celebrities filled social media.
In addition to a picture of bowler Jasprit Bumrah, Amitabh Bachchan liked X, wrote: “Arrey baap re baap (Oh my God)! Ind vs Pak khela dekh rahe the aur beech mein band kar diya TV, kyunki laga haar toh rahe hain hum! Lekin abhi achanak internet dekha aur (Was watching the match and switched off the TV midway thinking we are losing and now when I saw the internet) WE WON WE WON WE WON!!! YEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHH….!!!!! INDIA INDIA INDIA INDIA INDIA INDIA INDIA.”
Preity Zinta also celebrated India’s win and wrote on X: “Wow what a match. What a comeback and what a fight back. Full marks to the Indian cricket team for defending 119 runs. A special mention to the bowling unit specially @Jaspritbumrah93 for such an incredible performance. Maza aa gaya #INDvsPAK #PANT #WorldCup2024 #Whatamatch #ting.”
Ayushmann Khurrana took to X to hail Team India, tweeting: “Match full of nerves. All’s well that ends well though. Good comeback for Rishabh Pant. And Boomrah is the man with the golden arm. Cmon India! Let’s go all guns blazing in this #t20USA World Cup! #INDvsPAK.”
Yuzvendra Chahal’s wife, dancer Dhanashree, shared a joyful photo of all the players’ wives posing together.
Actress Anushka Sharma also posed with everyone in the stands, beaming with a big smile on her face.
Actor Varun Dhawan shared a video of India’s winning moment on Instagram Stories and wrote, “Magical moment. Whatta match. Team India shines bumraaaaaah. Jia Hind.”
Singer Armaan Malik shared a picture with Aashna Shroff from the stadium and wrote: “Jeet gaya India #IndvsPak #t20USA.”
Actor Sidharth Malhotra took to Instagram Stories and shared a photo of Team India with the caption: “What a win, #TeamIndia #HappySunday, indeed. Excitement level at max, as always #T20WorldCup #INDvsPAK.”
Taking to X, actor Riteish Deshmukh posted two tweets: “Boom Boom Bumrah !!!!” “Chak De India: What an incredible comeback!!! Bravo Team INDIA – Bravo Bowlers !! #INDvsPAK #t20USA #T20WorldCup 2024.”
Kartik Aaryan shared a photo of the match and wrote: “Champion banega Team India.”
On Instagram Stories, actor Shraddha Kapoor shared a post of herself lying on the ground and wrote: “Itni Khushi ho rahi hai jaise 2-3 wicket maine bhi le li hain.”
Actor Arjun Rampal tweeted, “What a match. Absolutely brilliant our bowling attack was. @Jaspritbumrah93 class apart. Great day for India today. Congratulations, boys. #t20USA #worldcup #IndiaVsPak.”
Taking to X, actress Neha Dhupia shared a video of India’s winning moment and wrote: “Not been this nervous in a looonnggg time…well played #TeamIndia #JaiHind.”
Actor Ishaan Khatter also shared a video of the match on Instagram Stories and said: “What an insane steal, Team India. Nail-biting climax!!!”
Sonu Sood tweeted: “Congratulations India #indiavspak @Jaspritbumrah93 Well done veer.”
Bobby Deol, Ananya Panday, Shanaya Kapoor, and Navya Naveli Nanda also posted on Instagram Stories in honour of Team India’s win.
Brief Scores: India 119 in 19 overs (Rishabh Pant 42; Naseem Shah 3-21, Haris Rauf 3-21) beat Pakistan 113/7 in 20 overs (Muhammad Rizwan 31; Jasprit Bumrah 3-14, Hardik Pandya 2-24) by six runs.