That's it from us here at ball-by-ball commentary. Thank you for joining us. From Ekanth, Raghav, Ranjith and myself, it's goodbye.
Suryakumar Yadav is thrilled with the way his team is stepping up, making his job easy. He says the team was calm after the first 10 overs [when Pakistan scored 91] and told the team during drinks, the game starts now. Shivam Dube is not a robot, he will have a bad day someday, but the way he comes back, really happy. The way he bailed us out in that situation was really good, Surya says. He adds that Shubman and Abhishek is fire and ice combination. They complement each other and that it is fun watching them bat together. The chase required someone to bat 10-12 overs. Surya says the fielding coach T Dilip has emailed all the boys for dropping catches. Butterfingers, they'll put that right
Salman Agha says Pakistan are yet to play the perfect game and admits India's batters took the game away in the powerplay. He says they could have got 15 more runs after being 91 in 10 overs but adds that 171 was still a good total. HIs choice of bowlers revolves around "a right place, right timing" kind of thinking. He says Rauf and Faheem bowled well and that they were looking forward to the game against Sri Lanka
10.40pm Abhishek Sharma is the Player of the Match for his 74 off 39 with six fours and five sixes. He says about his high strike rate, "today it was very simple, the way they were coming at us for no reason, I didn't like it at all and this is the only way I could give medicine to them." He says he has been playing with Shubman since his school days and he was waiting for a partnership like this with him for a long while. He feels its important for the team that he plays the way he plays and he's able to play in such an aggressive manner because the team has been supporting him to play that way knowing it is high risk and may not always come off.
Lots of love between the Indians in the dugout. No handshakes with Pakistan though. This has been clinical, from the way their bowlers pulled things back in the last 10 overs, with Shivam Dube putting in a big shift, to their openers coming at the target with no holds barred, this has been a thoroughly class performance. Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill put India so far ahead with their opening stand - 105 in 59 balls chasing 171 - that the little hiccup later in the innings - where it looked like Samson in the middle order experiment wasn't exactly working - didn't matter in the end.
Pakistan's bowlers tried their best. Haris Rauf bowled well. So pumped up that there was a moment where he and Abhishek came face to face at a time where neither team was exactly interested in engaging with each other. There were a few other verbals between Shaheen and Gill - none of these exchanges ugly or untoward - as two teams went hard at each other
zops: "amidst all this, the lacklustre fielding performce and catch drops from india will be forgotten i fear... they could have made it so much easier for themsleves, and other teams would have punbished them way harder."
Mustafa Moudi: "I feel Sanju Samson is the Unfortunate Opener in T20 Cricket. For Team India, it was Rohit and Various other openers, including Virat Kohli, that never let him open and then when he actually proved his ability with back to back centuries last year, once against lost his opening slot to Jaiswal and now to Gill. In RR too, first it was Jaiswal-Buttler and when Buttler left, it was Raghuvanshi. Seems like opening is never meant for Poor Sanju !!"
Jigar: "I think Surya's "360" game is catching up to him now. Bowlers basically know where to bowl and where to place the fielders and he obliges. He needs to play more in the V to keep the opposition guessing."
END OF OVER:18 | 10 Runs | IND: 163/4 (9 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 9.05, RRR: 4.50)
- Hardik Pandya6 (4b)
- Tilak Varma20 (17b)
- Faheem Ashraf4-0-31-1
- Haris Rauf4-0-26-2
John: "Just give Sanju his no.3 slot, and Surya should just come at 4. All these problems would be solved." I think India like the idea of their captain and 360 degree batter up the order to give him as many balls to influence the game as possible
Ajinkya: "Jitesh really needs to play the rest of the games now inplace of Samson. He was the first choice of India when they entered the tournament. I know it may sound harsh in Samson, especially after his innings in the last game. But Jitesh is much better for this role. "
END OF OVER:17 | 8 Runs 1 Wkt | IND: 153/4 (19 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 9.00, RRR: 6.33)
- Hardik Pandya4 (2b)
- Tilak Varma12 (13b)
- Haris Rauf4-0-26-2
- Abrar Ahmed4-0-42-1
Since the 105-run opening stand in 59 balls, we've had 43 balls, 41 runs and three wickets.
Gurliv: "Samson as a middle order bat looks so out of touch. Tilak, Samson and Pandya none of them are good to start vs spin. "
SV Samson b Haris Rauf 13 (20m 17b 1x4 0x6) SR: 76.47