Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
India’s Jasprit Bumrah expresses his joy after dismissing Pakistan’s Mohammed Rizwan.
CNN
—
Pakistan’s Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup continued in heartbreak with a dramatic six-run defeat to arch rivals India on Sunday, following their shock defeat to the United States earlier last week.
After these two defeats, Pakistan’s progress in the tournament now hangs in the balance, dependent on the result of the USA, who have a golden opportunity to reach the knockout stages.
Such a scenario seemed unlikely for much of the match as India were all out for a relatively low score of 119 and Pakistan looked calm in their attempts to score, but they lost key wickets at crucial times to suffer a painful defeat.
Often referred to as one of the world’s biggest sporting grudge matches, the India vs Pakistan cricket match has always been linked to the geopolitical fault lines that divide the two countries.
The two teams only ever play against each other in international competition, and there was so much excitement on the morning of the match that seat prices at Nassau County International Stadium in New York were at least $2,500.
Security was stepped up ahead of the game, including fence-line monitoring, vehicle inspections and horse and drone patrols, and Nassau County officials told CNN that previous threats from the terrorist group ISIS-K were considered credible until disproven.
Stephen Jeremiah/AP
India defeated Pakistan by a narrow margin.
The start of the match was delayed by nearly an hour due to rain and the skies were still overcast when India’s opening batsmen Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli came out to bat.
Rohit smashed the third ball into the stands for a six, giving India’s batting order the best possible start, but the team was forced to leave the field one over later to avoid rain again.
India looked set to continue the momentum from the opening pair when Kohli scored four with a brilliant cover drive but he was out just two balls later.
And in Pakistan’s very next over, Rohit hit a Shaheen Afridi ball straight at Haris Rauf, delivering a powerful blow to get out two of India’s main batsmen in succession.
Robert Cianfrone/Getty Images
Virat Kohli is out after being dismissed.
It was left to Rishabh Pant to restore order and he hit boundary after boundary, but India were unable to forge any partnerships and looked constantly shaky, collapsing from 89-3 to 96-7 by the 15th over, leaving little hope of a competitive score.
In the end, the last-placed team was all out for 119, a low score even on a makeshift pitch that has proven difficult to bat on throughout the tournament with uneven bounce and a sluggish outfield.
Pakistan made a solid start to their chase by chipping away at India’s run and, with star batsman Mohammed Rizwan anchoring their innings, they appeared to be in complete control of the match.
However, the match took a turn when Jasprit Bumrah got Rizwan out with six overs remaining, snatching Pakistan’s momentum. Pakistan needed 18 runs off six balls in the final over and fell just short, but the match finished in a grandstand.
This story has been updated with additional information.
