Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi took three wickets, including skipper Virat Kohli for 57, but India only managed 151 for seven in their Twenty20 World Cup match on Sunday.
Afridi, a left-arm fast bowler, returned 3-31 after a lethal first spell to hurt India after they chose to field first in the Super 12s match in Dubai.
Kohli hit his 29th T20 fifty to help the team rebuild before being caught behind off Afridi, who dismissed the star batsman for the first time in a World Cup game.
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Afridi struck first with an express delivery that swung in to trap Rohit Sharma lbw for a first-ball duck, and he celebrated with his trademark open-arm gesture.
Kohli walked into raucous applause from the 20,000-strong crowd, which was quickly silenced by another ripper from Afridi in his second over.
The 1.98-meter bowler got KL Rahul with a sharp delivery that took the batsman’s thigh pad and rattled the stumps.
Kohli and new batter Suryakumar Yadav attempted to respond with some positive shots, slamming Afridi for sixes each.
Wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan then took a spectacular diving catch to end Yadav’s stay at the wicket, and quick bowler Hasan Ali struck in his first over. Yadav scored 11 points.
Rishabh Pant joined Kohli in the middle, and the left-right batting pair rebuilt the innings, taking India to 60-3 after ten overs. Pant, a wicketkeeper-batsman who survived a close caught behind call off one of his attempted reverse sweeps, continued to lead the charge with daring strokeplay.
He hit Ali for two consecutive sixes before succumbing to Shadab Khan’s leg-spin in the next over, top-edging a ball that went high and into the bowler’s hands.
Kohli resisted the pressure to reach his 50 in 45 balls and help India reach a competitive total.
India has defeated Pakistan in all 12 of their T20 and 50-over World Cup matches.
Pant hit 39 out of 30 balls.
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