Indian spinners performed admirably to restrict Pakistan to a modest 130 for seven in the opening group league game of the ICC World Twenty2020, here today.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to field three specialist spinners -- Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin -- and bowl first on a slowish track was vindicated as the trio gave away only 63 runs between them in the 12 overs and also removed three Pakistan batsmen, thereby putting brakes on their scoring rate.
Mishra (2/22), Jadeja (1/18) and Ashwin (0/23) all got a bit of help from the track which had a bit of bite and turn on offer.
While Ashwin bowled round the wicket to deny the batsmen any room to chance their arms, Jadeja bowled wicket to wicket with the odd delivery turning away from the right-hander. Mishra too was bang on target with his flighted leg breaks and varied the length of his deliveries and pace through the air.
Dhoni rotated his bowlers brilliantly not letting the opposition batsmen to get away easily, frequently changing the ends.
For Pakistan, only Umar Akmal looked good during his 30-ball 33-run knock but couldn't go on to get a big score.
Kamran Akmal hit a couple boundaries --- one each off Ashwin and medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/21) before his partner Ahmed Shehzad's indiscretion brought about his downfall.
The call was Shehzad's, who came halfway down the track only to retreat back as Akmal couldn't make it back to his crease. Bhuvneshwar did well to pick up and throw down the stumps on his follow-through.
