Virat Kohli struck a sublime unbeaten half-century under pressure to help India beat Pakistan by six wickets at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Saturday in the World Twenty20. The hosts lost a couple of early wickets chasing 119 in a rain-curtailed game of 18 overs per side. However, Kohli steadied the ship along with Yuvraj Singh (24 off 23 balls) and skipper MS Dhoni (13 not out off nine balls), to eventually take India past the finish line with 13 balls to spare.
Rain delayed the start of play by an hour, after which Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl on a sticky wicket. India played an unchanged team from the one that was beaten by New Zealand in the tournament opener, and did well to restrict Shahid Afridi's men to an under-par 118/5 in 18 overs. On a pitch that kept low and turned square, Ashish Nehra (1-20), Ravichandran Ashwin (0-12) and Ravindra Jadeja (1-20) recorded economy rates of five and under.
India started their chase shakily, losing openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan within the first five overs. However, Kohli came together with Yuvraj and ensured that India did not collapse as they did against New Zealand. Kohli remained unbeaten on 55 off 37 balls, while Dhoni came in towards the end and scored the winning runs, to keep India alive in the tournament.
Corrigendum: This report was edited on March 20 to correct an error, which said that MS Dhoni elected to bat after winning the toss.
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