NEWS
Follow UsIt took Pakistan 13 attempts but the Men in Green finally managed to defeat India in a World Cup encounter. Babar Azam and Co. dismantled Virat Kohli’s men by 10 wickets in their first game of the 2021 T20 World Cup and the Player of the Match Shaheen Afridi termed the win 'a historic moment' for his team.
“To the entire Pakistan, to all our cricket lovers who travelled here... this is for them. This is a historic moment for the team. We'd not won against India in the World Cup. All the boys played so well today and hopefully we'll play well in the remainder of this World Cup from here. This is a great start and hopefully we can build it from here," said Afridi, who claimed the big wickets of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli.
Playing his first World Cup match against India, Afridi bowled two superb inswingers to get rid of Indian openers Rohit and Rahul. While Rohit was undone by a superb yorker, Rahul missed an incoming delivery and ended up getting knocked over.
“He (Babar Azam) gives me the new ball all the time. This was the team plan that I'd bowl the first over. I needed to give the breakthrough, which is the team requirement. My strength is to bowl the yorker with the new ball. It was the plan and I got success. My attempt was that even if I get a half [a yorker] with the swing, if my ball dips, he'll get out."
The left-arm paceman also had a fierce battle with Indian captain Kohli. The batting maestro smoked Afridi for a six in the final over of the powerplay but the 21-year-old had the last laugh as he dismissed Kohli for 57 in the penultimate over of the innings.
“We had plans against Kohli too. He is no doubt a No.1 player, there's no difference between him and Babar. The way I bowl to Babar in the nets, I bowled to Kohli. There was a plan but once I came back for the third over, I wasn't getting any swing or seam. I just wanted to continue hitting the length and then come back later and bowl some cutters. He was making room for himself, I was able to get some success."
