India kept their winning record over Pakistan in all ICC events intact with a desperately-needed six-wicket victory at Eden Gardens on Saturday, shepherded home on a tricky pitch by the unflappable Virat Kohli.
The India vice-captain calmed nerves jangled by the quick dismissals of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina, first with a 61-run stand for the fourth wicket with Yuvraj Singh (24, 23b, 1x4, 1x6) before sealing the win alongside Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Kohli’s masterly unbeaten 55 (37b, 7x4, 1x6) helped India to a fifth straight win over Pakistan in WorldT20 play and kept home hopes alive after the stunning defeat at the hands of New Zealand at Nagpur five days ago.
The hosts won the 18-overs a side game with 13 balls in hand after Dhoni thrashed a trademark six and then took a cheeky single to cross the 119-run target in 15.5 overs.
Earlier, Pakistan seemingly lacked the killer instinct as the Men in Blue restricted them to 118/5.
Openers Ahmed Shehzad and Sharjeel Khan struggled against R. Ashwin and Ashish Nehra, reaching double figures only after three overs.
At 38 in the eighth over, Suresh Raina drew first blood when Khan (17, 24b) mistiming a pull to Hardik Pandya.
Shehzad (23, 28b) tried to steady the innings with skipper Shahid Afridi but Jasprit Bumrah removed him caught by Ravindra Jadeja at point. Afridi (8 off 14) followed suit leaving Pakistan reeling at 60/3 in 12 overs.
SCOREBOARD Pakistan: Sharjeel Khan c Pandya b Raina 17, A. Shehzad c Jadeja b Bumrah 25, S. Afridi c Kohli b Pandya 8, Umar Akmal c Dhoni b Jadeja 22, S. Malik c Ashwin b Nehra 26, Sarfraz Ahmed (not out) 8, M. Hafeez (not out) 5. Extras: (b2, lb3, w1, nb1) 7. Total: (for 5 wkts, in 18 overs) 118. FoW: 1-38, 2-46, 3-60, 4-101, 5-105. Bowling: Nehra 4-0-20-1, Ashwin 3-0-12-0, Bumrah 4-0-32-1 (1nb), Jadeja 4-0-20-1 (1w), Raina 1-0-4-1, Pandya 2-0-25-1.
India: R. Sharma c Malik b Amir 10, S. Dhawan b Sami 6, V. Kohli (not out) 55 , S. Raina b Sami 0, Y. Singh c Sami b Riaz 24, M.S. Dhoni (not out) 13. Extras: (lb3, w7, nb1) 11. Total: (for 4 wkts, in 15.5 overs) 119 FoW: 1-14, 2-23, 3-23, 4-84. Bowling: Amir 3-1-11-1 (1w), Irfan 2.5-0-25-0 (1w), Sami 2-0-17-2 (1nb), Afridi 4-0-25-0 (2w), Malik 2-0-22-0 (2w), Riaz 2-0-16-1
