Virat Kohli scored a confident 49 to prop up India in a tricky chase as they defeated Pakistan by five wickets in a low-scoring Asia Cup match on Saturday.
India skittled Pakistan for 83 inside 18 overs before being put under the heat in the chase.
The reply from MS Dhoni’s side began on a sorry note with fiery left-arm paceman Mohammad Amir dismissing both openers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane leg before in the first over before they had opened their scoring.
Amir also dismissed Suresh Raina to finish with 4-18-3 and won some praise from Kohli along the way.
“It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat, I wasn’t happy with myself in the last game, where I went too hard at the ball. I made mistakes in the last innings but I dug in this time,” Kohli said of the seaming Sher-e-Bangla Stadium pitch.
“I would like to congratulate Mohammad Amir for the way he bowled, I actually congratulated him while he was bowling. I was really happy to play such an amazing spell of fast bowling. May god bless him with more success,” Kohli, who was named man of the match, added.
The Indian pacemen were right on the money as well after captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted to bowl first on a green-tinged pitch. His bowlers responded brilliantly, extracting good movement out of the wicket.
Medium paceman Hardik Pandya was the most successful among the Indian bowlers, picking up three wickets for eight runs, while Pakistan did not help their own cause with Khurram Manzoor and captain Shahid Afridi running themselves out.
Wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed’s 25 was Pakistan’s highest individual score while Manzoor, making his T20 debut, was the only other batsman to reach double figures with 10.