Shaheen Afridi lit up the Dubai International Cricket Stadium with his immaculate spell of 3/31 in his stipulated four overs. He got rid of Rohit Sharma (0) and KL Rahul (3) at the start of the innings to set the tone for the match. In his second spell, he dismissed Indian captain Virat Kohli (57 off 49 balls). This also marked the first time that Pakistan got the Indian captain out.

It was Afridi’s magic spell that turned out to be the game-changer as helped Pakistan get the monkey off their back against India in World Cup match-ups.

To bring things into perspective, Pakistan registered a comprehensive 10-wicket win against a potent Indian cricket team. It was the deliveries to Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul that became the talk of the town. During a post-match show, former Australia batsman Shane Watson said that those deliveries would have dismissed even the best batsmen.

Awarded man of the match for his spell, he thanked his parents and Pakistan fans. “It is the good wishes of my parents and all Pakistanis. Very happy with my performance. The plan was to bring the ball back in. I was just trying to swing it and I was just looking to give the team a breakthrough,” Shaheen said during a post-match presentation.

He said that before the game, he had worked on that skill at the nets.

“That was what I practised in the nets as well yesterday. Batting against the new ball was tough,” the young pacer said.

He credited Babar Azam (68*) and Mohammad Rizwan (79*) for the way they batted and defused a solid Indian bowling line-up, scoring runs at ease.

“The credit goes to Babar and Rizwan for the way they played. All teams are good in the tournament and we will look to carry this momentum through and go to the finals,” Shaeen added.

This was the first time in India vs Pakistan World Cup history that the Babar Azam-led team recorded a victory and finally got a T20 World Cup victory under their belt. Until now the scoreline had 0-5 Pakistan. But after October 24, the scoreline reads 1-5 Pakistan.