India’s six-wicket victory over Pakistan in Colombo was built on a 59-ball opening stand worth 105 between long-time friends Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill. The pair’s breezy partnership all but settled a chase of 172, yet the contest will be remembered just as much for the verbal jousting that ran alongside the cricket.
“Today, it was pretty simple,” Abhishek explained after collecting the Player-of-the-Match award. “The way they were coming at us without any reason, I didn’t like it at all. And I thought that this is the only [answer] that I could give with my bat and obviously [contribute] with the win towards my team.”
That answer came in the shape of a 39-ball 74 featuring six fours and five sixes, the first of them swung off Shaheen Shah Afridi’s opening delivery. One week earlier, in the group phase, the same bowler’s first ball had disappeared for four; this time Abhishek simply went a step further.
Cricketing tension has bubbled between the sides all tournament. India declined the customary post-match handshakes after the group encounter. Pakistan’s response included a formal protest to match referee Andy Pycroft and quiet talk of a boycott that never quite materialised. On Sunday the ill-feeling surfaced through Afridi and Haris Rauf’s animated send-offs and a stream of words for both Indian openers.
Abhishek, battering through the chatter, credited the support structure around him. “I feel it’s very important for the team because if you see someone playing like this, they need really good support from the captain and the coach,” he said. “I feel that’s what I’m getting from my team and that’s the intent they want me to show in all the games.”
Gill, meanwhile, matched the aggression without quite the same explosiveness, finishing on 46 from 33. “We’ve been playing since our school days, so we enjoy each other’s company really well,” Abhishek noted. “And the way we started, I thought that we’re going to do this in one of the games… luckily it was today, and I feel the way he was giving them back, I really enjoyed it on the other side.”
Shivam Dube’s two-wicket spell earlier in the night prevented Pakistan from running away after their own strong start. At 91 for 1 after ten overs, Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub had set a base for something closer to 190, but India’s slower balls and straighter lines pulled the final tally back to 171 for 6.
“The way the boys are stepping up in every game, showing character, I think it’s making my job really easy,” India captain Suryakumar Yadav said. “I think the boys showed a lot of character, composure; they were calm after first innings. After the ten overs, I told the boys during drinks as well, the game starts now, and the way they reacted, every…”
His sentence trailed away in the press area, though the point was clear enough: India had absorbed a Pakistan surge and answered firmly.
Pakistan’s dressing-room had reason to feel they left runs behind. Babar Azam’s early dismissal, slicing Hardik Pandya to backward point, halted momentum. Farhan’s 62 from 38 balls sparkled but lacked lasting support once Ayub fell lbw to Dube. Later overs produced more mis-hits than boundaries, and Arshdeep Singh closed out the innings with yorkers that clattered into toes and pads rather than the fence.
On another night 171 might have been competitive, yet Gill’s timing and Abhishek’s power rendered the figure light. Rauf strayed too often onto a hittable length; Afridi, unusually, bled 20 from his first nine balls. India were 72 without loss inside six overs, effectively shortening the match to a T20.
Pakistan did coax a wobble. Shadab Khan removed both openers in three balls and Iftikhar Ahmed struck twice, leaving India 144 for 4. But Suryakumar and Rishabh Pant tiptoed home, guided by a target already whittled down and by dew that smoothed the outfield.
The broader backdrop—political tension, formal protests, the prospect of a handshake that never quite happens—won’t disappear before the sides meet again. For now, though, India hold the Super Fours points and, perhaps more importantly for Abhishek, the final word.
“If it’s my day,” he said, “I’m going to make sure that we win the game.” Few could argue he hadn’t done precisely that.
