India snatched a win from the jaws of defeat in their T20 World Cup 2024 match against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday. Despite being bowled out for 119, the Indian team put on a brilliant bowling performance to restrict Pakistan to 113/7 in 20 overs. Jasprit Bumrah was the star of the show as he bagged three wickets while conceding just 14 runs. Bumrah dismissed Pakistan openers Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and the explosive Iftikhar Ahmed. India captain Hardik Pandya was also among the wickets as he bagged two to maintain the pressure from the other end.
There have been rumours of a rift between Hardik and India captain Rohit Sharma ever since the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season.
However, Rohit went to hug Hardik after the latter dismissed one of the Pakistan batters.
Shocked by the USA and scarred by India, Pakistan have little to play for and everything to lose in their remaining T20 World Cup campaign. Their Super Eight qualification chance now hinges on winning big against Canada and Ireland, besides hoping that the Americans lose big to India and Ireland.
Even in that scenario, both the teams will end on four points each and it will boil down to which team has a better net run rate. Hence Pakistan can only pray for divine intervention in best case scenario.
USA after two wins enjoy a healthy run-rate of +0.626 and just a victory against Ireland would suffice while Pakistan with a dismal NRR of -0.150 would not only need to win but also by comprehensive margins.
In the two matches so far, the 2009 champions never really looked the formidable side it was once known to be. Going forward Pakistan will have to do some soul searching if they want to revive their faltering campaign. Canada, on the other hand, are placed third in Group A with one win out of two games.
With ANI Inputs