Watch: Rohit Sharma puts in a great dive, but drops Iftikhar Ahmed at cover
India captain Rohit Sharma made a stunning effort at short extra-cover to try and dismiss Iftikhar Ahmed, but failed to hold on in the T20 World Cup Super 12s match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, October 23.
Iftikhar chipped one from Ravichandran Ashwin towards the off side, and Rohit, charging in, leaped up full stretch, but couldn’t quite grab the catch. The right-hander smashed a six downtown a ball later, and struck three more maximums in the next over off Axar Patel, before getting to his fifty off just 32 balls.
Mohammed Shami trapped Iftikhar leg-before in the very next over, ending a 76-run third-wicket stand with Shan Masood.
Watch: Rohit Sharma puts in a great dive, but drops Iftikhar Ahmed at cover
Pakistan soon stumbled from 91/2 to 98/5, with Hardik Pandya dismissing Shadab Khan and Haider Ali in the 14th over. Masood however, carried on to get to a fifty, and some timely big hits from Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf helped Pakistan finish at 159/9 at the end of allotted 20 overs.
Earlier, India made a solid start with the new ball, with Arshdeep Singh trapping Pakistan skipper Babar Azam for a golden duck in just the second over of the game after Rohit opted to bowl. Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep showcased brilliant control and kept the pressure mounting, and Mohammad Rizwan too, fell to the latter, top-edging one to fine leg. Arshdeep and Hardik returned 3/32 and 3/30 respectively, while Bhuvneshwar and Shami bagged a wicket each.
Earlier, Sri Lanka registered a comfortable nine-wicket win over Ireland in Hobart in the first game of the Super 12s stage.
ALSO READ:
Watch: An emotional Rohit Sharma at the national anthem as he leads India out for the first time
Why the loss to New Zealand could be enough to knock Australia out of the T20 World Cup