Kamal Ghorui
India came to Colombo prepared for Usman Tariq, but it was Saim Ayub who turned the game slightly in Pakistan’s favour with a key spell that checked India’s progress in their T20 World Cup clash in Colombo on Sunday. Ayub first removed Ishan Kishan, who had set the pace for India, and then returned to dismiss Tilak Varma just when India were preparing for a late push. Tilak was beaten on the sweep and fell for 25 off 24 balls.
Hardik Pandya walked in and looked to attack immediately. Ayub bowled a carrom ball that took a thick outside edge as Pandya attempted a big shot. He was caught at long-off for a golden duck as India slipped to 126 for 4 in 14.3 overs.Ayub nearly completed a hat-trick. On the hat-trick ball, he bowled with loop and dip, pitching on leg and turning past Shivam Dube’s defense. The ball bounced over the stumps. Pakistan reviewed for a caught behind, but there was no edge.Saim Ayub finished his spell with three wickets, while conceding just 25 runs in four overs.Earlier in the innings, India had lost Abhishek Sharma for his second duck in two World Cup innings. However, Kishan ensured the innings did not slow down and recorded the third-fastest fifty in India-Pakistan T20Is.Fastest 50s in Ind-Pak T20Is (by balls)23 – Mohd Hafeez, Ahmedabad, 201224 – Abhishek Sharma, Dubai, 202527 – Ishan Kishan, Colombo (RPS), 2026*29 – Yuvraj Singh, Ahmedabad, 2012Kishan reached his half-century in 27 balls, getting there with a boundary off Abrar Ahmed’s second delivery in the seventh over.Kishan continued to score and made 77 from 40 balls before being dismissed. The pitch did not appear to favour high totals. Pakistan bowled five overs of spin in the powerplay, only the 13th time a fifth over of spin has been used inside a World Cup powerplay.Before the match began, India captain Suryakumar Yadav did not shake hands with Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha at the toss, continuing the approach followed since the Asia Cup in Dubai last year.
