The Pakistan captain Salman Agha's interview is nowhere to be found at the end of the game and with that we wrap things up here at ball-by-ball. From Ekanth and Ranjith and myself, thanks for turning in.
Suryakumar Yadav is being serenaded by the crowd for his birthday. He says its a great feeling to win and the win is a perfect return gift from him to India on his birthday. He talks about the winning six, he says it's a box he wanted to tick, to stay there till the end. He says playing Pakistan is just another game, they come to the ground and prepare the same as any other opposition. He says India won the champions trophy with a lot of spinners and that was where it started. He also adds he is a big fan of spinners and likes picking them. Finally just as the presentation ends, without being prompted, he says "we stand with the victims of the families of the Pahalgam terror attack and we express our solidarity and we want to dedicate today's win to the armed forces"
10.05pm Kuldeep Yadav is the Player of the Match. He says he just kept things simple, wanted to execute the plans he had when he got the ball in his hand. He says all he tried to do was react to what Pakistan were trying to do. He says the first ball should always be a wicket-taking ball and you have to go with that mindset and execute because whoever is batting is new at the crease and you have a chance to get on top of him. He says he doesn't feel on top of the world, he still feels he has to work on his bowling, he says he tries too many variations and has to learn there
Comfortable win for India. Curious performance from Pakistan, starting with their decision to bat first at the toss on a ground with a history of chasing teams winning. Salman Agha's day only got worse from there, as he scored 3 off 12 with India's spinners taking control. Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel took 5 for 36 in eight overs.
There was no time to feel nervous about a chase of 128 because Abhishek Sharma came out with so much intent, smashing Shaheen Afridi around in the first over itself. India got 60 of the runs they needed in the powerplay itself and from there it was a cruise. Huge win, with a net run rate boost as well.
Salim Hariz : "Huge dip in the NRR for India from 10 to 4 . Should improve"
Shivendra : "@Zeeshan Are you suggesting what I am guessing to bring a pair back? "
END OF OVER:15 | 13 Runs | IND: 123/3 (5 runs required from 30 balls, RR: 8.20, RRR: 1.00)
- Shivam Dube9 (6b)
- Suryakumar Yadav40 (33b)
- Saim Ayub4-0-35-3
- Mohammad Nawaz3-0-27-0
Zeeshan : "I think the issue lies in the balance of experience, India has at least 3 experience batters, gill, SKY and pandya to nurture the young ones. On the other hand pak only has fakhar, and today it showed that pak were going till fakhar's dismissal"
END OF OVER:14 | 10 Runs | IND: 110/3 (18 runs required from 36 balls, RR: 7.85, RRR: 3.00)
- Shivam Dube3 (5b)
- Suryakumar Yadav33 (28b)
- Mohammad Nawaz3-0-27-0
- Saim Ayub3-0-22-3
najam: "is saim quietly doing a reverse Steve Smith? come in as a batter and become a spinner "
Doctor: "Of all the talks between India's bowling and Sanju's batting, I totally forgot that Dube is also playing.. I was expecting Sanju to come out next followed by Pandya and Axar.."
END OF OVER:13 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | IND: 100/3 (28 runs required from 42 balls, RR: 7.69, RRR: 4.00)
- Shivam Dube2 (3b)
- Suryakumar Yadav24 (24b)
- Saim Ayub3-0-22-3
- Mohammad Nawaz2-0-17-0
nitin: "one match and Indian fans are giving verdicts. Cricket is a funny old game, and in T20s, momentum is critical. We are yet to see how this Indian team copes with a bad start." As far as problems go, that's a pretty useful one