Nightmare continued for Indian opening batter KL Rahul against Pakistan as he got out for another low score in a big match. In the Super 12 clash between India and Pakistan, Rahul was cleaned up for just 4 off 8 balls by a brilliant delivery from Naseem Shah. Chasing 160 to win, Rahul looked quite jittery and nervous at the start before this sharp inswinger from Naseem did him in. Rahul had got out in the similar fashion back in Asia Cup and a year ago, he was again clean bowled by a Shaheen Shah Afridi. The Pakistani fans too to Twitter to remind Rahul that 'he just cannot play Shahs' as reactions poured in on his dismissal. 


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Earlier, Arshdeep Singh bowled a dream first spell and Hardik Pandya displayed his true worth in the back-10 as India restricted Pakistan to a manageable 159 for eight in their T20 World Cup opener. If Arshdeep (3/32) removed skipper Babar Azam (0) and Mohammad Rizwan (4) in his first two overs to set the tone, Pandya (3/30) rekindled memories of his Asia Cup heroics by consistently hitting hard lengths at brisk pace, letting the pitch do the rest. Iftikhar Ahmed (51) was the only batter who looked like taking the attack back to India as the spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel (1/21) did struggle a bit and it was designated sixth bowler Pandya who finished his full quota.


Shan Masood (52) struck a half-century but never looked comfortable during his 42-ball knock. Exactly 364 days back, Babar and Rizwan had clinically decimated the Indian bowling attack for their biggest ever T20I victory against India. But with the MCG track remaining under cover for a couple of days due to rain and subsequent underlying moisture apart from a liberal tinge of green in and around the good length area meant the hit opening pair wasn't supposed to make merry. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/22) and Arshdeep knew that all they needed to do was to pitch the ball up and let the track do the rest. Both bowl at an average speed of 130 kmph and they knew that their best chance to trouble the batters at that pace was to bowl fuller lengths.


With ANI inputs