COLOMBO: It was barely five minutes after the match ended at the Premadasa Stadium on Sunday when Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube were back in the middle bowling on the practice pitches. No over-the-top celebrations, no outpourings of emotion, just the feeling of yet another routine win against a Pakistan team that India don’t think is their match at this point.The 61-run victory, the fourth on the bounce after their hat-trick of victories against their former arch-rivals in the Asia Cup, has now secured India a place in the Super-8. A lot has happened in the build-up to this game, and even on Sunday there was no much-anticipated handshake between the captains.While the unrest off the field persisted, India were simply too much when the ball was rolling. Just a few months ago, Ishan Kishan (77 off 40 balls) was nowhere near holding a place in the Indian T20 team. But now that he’s there, the 27-year-old is proving that he can give teammate Abhishek Sharma a run for his money as the best T20 opener in the world.Abhishek’s early dismissal on the slow track Premadasa could have been a big blow, but not when Ishan was in the form he is. Pakistan’s bowlers dealt with contempt and the cuts and smashes unleashed by the Jharkhand boy took India to 52 runs in the first six overs, at least 20 over par on this track.“The pitch was not that easy. Sometimes you just have to believe and focus on your strengths. I just watched the ball, stuck to my strengths and let them run as much as possible,” Man of the Match Kishan said at the end of the match.After his departure, India showed shrewdness and made a total of 175 against some quality spin, forcing Pakistan to take huge risks early in their chase.They were not up to it as Jasprit Bumrah (2-17) and Hardik Pandya (2-16) did the first damage. The spinners, who bowled 18 of Pakistan’s 20 overs, only came into play for India after the paceman sealed the deal.“This is for India. We played the brand of cricket we wanted to play. We thought 175 was 15-20 runs over par – 155 would make it a very tight game,” captain Surya Kumar Yadav said as thousands of Indian fans went home happy.
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