Pakistani
openers Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam took their team over the line in their
T20 World Cup Super 12 game against India on Sunday. Their partnership of 152
off 17.5 overs is the highest Pakistan has ever managed against India in T20Is.

Chasing a
total of 151 posted by India, Azam and Rizwan came out all guns blazing with
regular boundaries and sixes all around the park. Both of them notched up
half-centuries and put Pakistan on track for their first-ever ICC World Cup win
against their neighbours and arch-rivals.

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Azam
scored  68 off 52 deliveries with six fours and two sixes. Rizwan ably
supported his captain with 78 off 54 with equal number of fours and three maximums from the other end to give Pakistan a 10
wicket victory over India.

Azam’s most productive shot in his innings was the flick shot which gave him 14 runs, including a boundary.

Rizwan’s most productive shot was the pull shot. It produced 23 runs for him, including three fours and a six.

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This was the highest partnership for Pakistan against India for any wicket in T20Is. Previous best partnership was of 106 by Mohammad Hafeez & Shoaib Malik for the 4th wicket in 2012.

“We, the openers, kept it simple and built a partnership and because the wicket was getting better so we just wanted to keep batting till the end, which we did,” Azam said about the partnership after the game.

Earlier in
the day, Pakistani bowlers were able to restrict India to a respectable 151/7.
Fifty from Captain Virat Kohli and a cameo from wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant
pulled India towards the 150+ total after Shaheen Afridi skittled India’s top
order cheaply after Azam put India to bat first.

Kohli’s
knock included five fours and a solitary six. It ended when he mistimed his
effort to pull a length delivery from Afridi, edging it for wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan to catch behind the stumps. Afridi finished with an impressive
return of 3 for 31 from four overs.

Afridi
produced two unplayable deliveries at the biggest stage under pressure.  

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These are a few ten wicket wins in T20 World Cups (target):

Australia v Sri Lanka in Cape Town 2007 (102)

South Africa v Zimbabwe in Hambantota 2012 (94)

Oman v Papua New Guinea in Al Amerat 2021 (130)

Pakistan v India in Dubai 2021 (152)