Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuvraj Singh set it up with a superbdisplay of spin bowling before Virat Kohli took centrestage with an unbeaten 78as an inspired India thrashed arch-rivals Pakistan by eight wickets to keeptheir title hopes alive in the ICC World Twenty20 here on Sunday.
Ashwin (2/16) and Yuvraj (2/16) snapped up four wicketsbetween themselves as Pakistan were shot out for a meagre 128 in 19.4 overs.Lakshmipathy Balaji also complemented the spin twins with impressive figures of3/22 in 3.4 overs.
Kohli, who has been Pakistan's nemesis in the past, hit ascintillating unbeaten 78 off 61 balls as India won with three overs to spare.The Delhi lad hit nine boundaries and two sixes to take the team home in thehigh-voltage contest watched by a capacity crowd.
However, Pakistan are still ahead in terms of net run rateof -0.426 which is shade better than India's -0.452. Had India won with 20balls to spare, they would have been No 2 in the group.
India will now have to defeat South Africa in their lastgroup-2 match on Tuesday to make it to the semi-finals.
India's unbeaten record against Pakistan in ICC World Cupshas thus been kept intact having beaten them five times in the 50-over versionand thrice in the T20 format.
Kohli started with a thickish outside edge off Raza Hasanfor a boundary but then played some lovely strokes. A backfoot cover drive offSaeed Ajmal and lovely cover drive off Yaser Arafat were glorious strokes.
He also lofted Shahid Afridi over long-off for a six.
Whether driving on the up or playing off his hips, Kohli wasa treat to watch.
Virender Sehwag on the other hand, was happy to play thesecond fiddle during the 74-run partnership for the second wicket but did playa lovely lofted shot off Umar Gul’s bowling.
