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Rohit Sharma adeptly played a tricky pitch in his side’s opening victory against Ireland at this venue so there was much on the shoulders of India’s most skilful operator.
“Rohit, Rohit, Rohit” the India fans feverishly bellowed from the stands when he effortlessly whipped the third ball of the match from Shaheen Afridi over the ropes.
It should have set the tone for a big total, but when Virat Kohli drilled Naseem Shah into the hands of point, and Rohit was caught in the deep attempting to repeat the trick against Shaheen, India’s middle order was exposed.
There was no sense they might simply be happy trying to rebuild, though. Especially when Pant swaggered to the crease in that inimitable style of his.
The left-hander played with typical bombast and when he swung, he swung hard. A batting bagatelle sometimes he connected, sometimes the ball flew off in another direction.
His six fours in a 31-ball knock were vital in getting India to a semi-competitive total with Axar Patel (20) one of only three India players into double figures.
Pakistan’s seamers, however, showed superb discipline in the rest of India’s innings with Naseem and Rauf superb as India’s last six wickets went down for just 24.
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