India 4 Pakistan 0 in World T20s. India have been in pretty poor form coming into this tournament, but they have been on top today. The gamble with three specialist spinners worked wonders, with Amit Mishra a leading contender for the Man of the Match award. Once the Pakistan batting could muster only 130, it was always going to be tough to defend. There were a few tight moments, but India were never really in deep trouble in the chase.
An important results as the teams are in a tough group, which also includes defending champions West Indies and highly rated Australia. Not easy to qualify from this group.
Amit Mishra is the Man of the Match: "I did some hard work, I'm very happy we won this match. I'm always thinking of going for wickets, and building up pressure. MS gave me a lot of support today, the sort of support you need as a bowler."
Presentation ceremony coming up.
Hafeez: "The pitch was damp a little, not coming onto the bat, there was extra bounce. We were 20 runs short, we also dropped some catches, we have to take them in matches like this. Long way to go in this tournament. Maqsood has natural talent to hit the ball hard."
Dhoni: "A few dropped catches, it would have been better if we could have taken them, apart from that it was a fantastic game. Rohit and Dhawan gave us a good start, Kohli and Raina capitalised. It is good to see Raina among the runs, with him around it gives us the firepower in the middle order. [About extra spinners] we will have to decide based on how much dew is there, I think today Amit Mishra bowled 70-75% of what he can bowl."
India couldn't have asked for a better start to their World T20. A comfortable victory over their archrivals in a tough group, with the bowlers delivering and Raina finding his touch. Here's our match report: India cruise past anxious Pakistan.
There'll be much more on the site shortly from Abhishek Purohit and Mohammad Isam, our two correspondents in Mirpur. But for now, it's a wrap. See you all tomorrow. G'night!
END OF OVER:18 | 9 Runs | IND: 124/3 (7 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 6.88, RRR: 3.50)
- Virat Kohli36 (32b)
- Suresh Raina28 (25b)
- Junaid Khan3-0-23-0
- Saeed Ajmal4-0-18-1
Junaid switches to round the wicket, mid-on moves to long-on
END OF OVER:17 | 1 Run | IND: 115/3 (16 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 6.76, RRR: 5.33)
- Virat Kohli32 (30b)
- Suresh Raina23 (21b)
- Saeed Ajmal4-0-18-1
- Umar Gul3-0-28-1
