Despite the first over ending at 1 for 1, Kishan owned the powerplay, taking India to 52 for 1, which was absolutely essential before the field spread out. The easing of field restrictions didn’t matter to Kishan, who steered the first ball after the powerplay for four. Then he hit Abrar right over his head. Then drove him over extra-cover. The second of these fours brought up his fifty in just 27 balls.

Curiously, despite having an offspinner and two mystery spinners who can turn the ball away from the left-hander, Pakistan went to Shadab Khan’s legspin against two left-hand batters in the eighth over, and paid with 17 runs. By the time Ayub dismissed Kishan, one ball after a reverse-pull for four, he had scored 77 out of 88 in 8.4 overs.

Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma seemed content to play within themselves, the first sign that India knew Kishan had done something special and all they needed to do was preserve their position. They added 38 off 33, including a first-ball four off Tariq, but when they decided to go again in the 15th over, Ayub proved to be a difficult proposition. He got Tilak on the sweep, Hardik for a golden duck, and nearly bowled Shivam Dube with the hat-trick ball. The amount of turn he got indicated India were still ahead in the game.

It was the return of Abrar and Afridi in the 18th and 20th overs that gave India the opportunity to achieve a final kick. Dube and Rinku Singh took the opportunity with 27 off 17 and 11 off 4. Between them, Afridi, Abrar and Shadab went for 86 in six overs, poor returns for the surface.He might have scored a golden duck in trying to impose himself on the game, but with the ball Hardik was meticulous. No driving length, no room, three dots, and out came the low-percentage pull for a four-ball duck for Sahibzada Farhan,  Bumrah cashed in on the pressure of a first-over wicket maiden with swing and hard lengths to send back Ayub and Agha. Babar Azam missed a slog sweep off Axar Patel to make it 34 for 4 in 4.5 overs.The game was all but over but Usman Khan kept Pakistan interested with the innings that came closest to Kishan’s in terms of ease. He hit Pandya for a six and then took 27 off 15 balls from Axar with two inside-out fours and two through straight long-off after charging him. However, Axar had his own back when he saw Usman coming, fired one in, and fittingly Kishan was there to practically seal the win for India. Only formalities remained thereafter

Brief scores:
India 175 for 7 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 77, Tilak Varma 25, Suryakumar Yadav 32, Shivam Dube 27, Rinku Singh 11*; Salman Agha 1-10, Shaheen Shah Afridi 1-31, Saim Ayub 3-25, Usman Tariq 1-24) beat Pakistan 114 in 18 overs (Usman Khan  44, Shadab Khan 14, Faheem Ashraf 10, Shaheen Shah Afridi 23*; Hardik Pndya 2-16, Jasprit Bumrah 2-17, Varun Chakravarthy 2-17, Axar Patel 2-29, Kuldeep Yadav 1-14, Tilak Varma 1-11) by 61 runs