Pakistan spiral under spin pressure as Sharma leads India to victory in T20 World Cup

BIRMINGHAM, England, June 14 : Pakistani batters failed to withstand the pressure from Indian spinners as they lost seven wickets within 31 runs to suffer a 64-run loss to their bitter rivals in the Twenty20 World Cup on Sunday.

Deepti Sharma, whose five-wicket haul helped India to win the 50-over World Cup final last year, took five wickets again for just 10 runs as Pakistan collapsed for 106, far short of the target of 171 in a battle of nerves in the Group A clash.

"I varied my pace in every ball," said player-of-the-match Sharma.

"I always believe... whenever the time will come I'll step up for the team. That's how I play and bowl."

India and Pakistan engaged in a military conflict that nearly snowballed into a fully-fledged war last year. There has been a long freeze in bilateral cricket between the nuclear-armed neighbours, and they play each other only in neutral venues in multilateral tournaments.

There was no handshake between the captains once again as India's Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and chose to bat on Edgbaston's slow wicket, but her decision almost backfired when Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues fell in the first four overs.

But Smriti Mandhana and Kaur, calm under pressure, added 91 runs for the third wicket. Pakistan captain Fatima Sana (2-33) caught Mandhana (68) in the 14th over and got Kaur (36) caught near the boundary soon after, arresting India's momentum.

Under pressure again, India had a 21-ball spell when they could not hit a single boundary, before Richa Ghosh (34 off 17 balls) dug them out of that rut, hitting Tasmia Rubab for three fours and a six to collect 23 runs from the 19th over, getting them to 170-6.

SHARMA CHANGES THE GAME

Pakistan openers Muneeba Ali and Gull Feroza scored 37 off