A FIRST: PAKISTAN OVERCOME INDIA IN WC

Babar Azam’s Boys Get The Measure Of Virat Kohli’s Bunch As Pakistan Skipper, Rizwan And Afridi Shine

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SULTAN OF SWING: Shaheen Shah Afridi celebrates after getting the wicket of Virat Kohli on Sunday

And so the inevitable comes to pass. India’s dream run in World Cups against Pakistan, stretching all the way back to 1992, had to end eventually, but what was perhaps unexpected, and will rankle, is the manner of the defeat. It was a capitulation which brought back the ghosts of decades past and will haunt for a while.

Babar Azam’s Pakistan finally chose Sunday night in Dubai for the kind of assured, authoritative performance that can thoroughly deflate an opposition and has eluded Pakistan for decades.

The 10-wicket win, Pakistan’s first in this format and their first victory against India in World Cup in 13 attempts, was engineered with such consummate ease, driven to fruition with such complete mastery, that it has lifted the curtain on a new era in this storied rivalry.

From being masters of the chaotic for decades, Pakistan turned to masters of the clinical in one night.

Azam’s measured masterclass (68 not out off 52 balls; 6x4, 6x2), an exhibition of touch and class, and Mohammed Rizwan’s sparkling, animated 79 not out (55b; 6x4, 3x6) in a pressure chase on a slowish pitch was everything mercurial, chaotic, temperamental Pakistan have not been in World Cup over the years: calm, clever and resolute.

No perfect Pakistan outing, however, is complete without a bit of pace magic. In this game it was the fiery Man of the Match Shaheen Shah Afridi (3/31, accounting for India’s top three) who imposed his presence as soon as the game began and allowed Pakistan to gain the early chokehold. Pakistan simply never let go.