Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan hit unbeaten half-centuries as Pakistan completed a resounding 10-wicket win over India in their T20 World Cup campaign-opener in Dubai. Chasing a target of 152 runs, the Pakistan openers have looked comfortable as Indian bowlers continue to seek a breakthrough. Earlier, Virat Kohli scored his 29th half-century in T20Is before being dismissed for 57 by Shaheen Shah Afridi as India posted 151/7 in their allotted 20 overs. Afridi was on fire as he sent back openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, before Hasan Ali removed Suryakumar Yadav to give Pakistan a great start in the match. Kohli hit five boundaries and a six during his knock. Rishabh Pant also played a good hand as he hit a 30-ball 39, which included two fours and two sixes, before being dismissed by Shadab Khan. Hardik Pandya failed to get going in the death overs but India managed to surpass the psychological 150-run mark. Kohli left out Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Chahar, Shardul Thakur and Ishan Kishan from the playing XI, with Varun Chakaravarthy making the line-up. Team India will hope to seal a win and get their campaign off to a good start against a top-notch Pakistan team, which has a number of match-winners in its line-up. Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bowl first.
India went in with the following playing XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan chose the following players in their final XI: Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan, Imad Wasim, Asif Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi