India makes it look easy against Pakistan as they win by 8 wickets
India got their first victory in the super eight stages and it could not have been a better opponent than Pakistan. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch that seemed to help the bowlers. Zaheer Khan went off to a rather poor start giving away 13 runs in his first over but Irfan Pathan drew first blood as he picked up the dangerous Imran Nazir. Shahid Afridi was promoted up the order and he too seemed to be in good form but he too was out of a clever delivery from Balaji. Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals and India kept them down to a relatively low total. Balaji was the pick of the bowlers for India getting 3 wickets and giving away 22 runs. Yuvraj Singh also chipped in with 2 crucial wickets along with Ashwin. Zaheer Khan was the only bowler who did not get a wicket. Pakistan’s innings ended with 128 runs after they were all out without even completing their full quota of 20 overs.
India in response started off badly losing Gautam Gambhir in the very first over when they had only 1 run board. Pakistan should have capitalized on the situation but they couldn’t and Virat Kohli and Virender Sehwag played very well to keep the runs ticking. Some poor fielding from Pakistan also gave India several opportunities to score freely. Sehwag got out in the hands of Shahid Afridi attempting to hit the ball over the boundary. Yuvraj Singh then came in and he along with Virat Kohli finished the game off for India with 3 overs to spare. Virat Kohli was given the man of the match for his well made 78 runs of just 61 balls.