South Africa openers set up thumping win

South Africa Women 163 for 0 (van Niekerk 90*, Lee 67*) beat Pakistan Women 119 for 9 (Dar 32, Abidi 28, Kapp 3-16) by 44 runs
Scorecard

South Africa Women's openers Dane van Niekerk and Lizelle Lee shared an unbroken 163-run opening stand, setting Pakistan Women a target that eventually proved well out of their reach.

Pakistan Women failed to strike even once after putting South Africa in to bat as Lee and van Niekerk put behind a quiet opening to push up the scoring rate in the second half of the innings. Lee was unbeaten on 67 off 55 balls with eight fours and a six, while her partner van Niekerk ended on 90 off 66 balls with 13 fours and a six.

In reply, a 48-run partnership for the third wicket between Nain Abidi and Nida Dar rallied Pakistan's innings after two early setbacks. Both batsmen were dismissed in successive overs, however, and their wickets allowed South Africa to stifle the scoring, effectively denying Pakistan any impetus. Marizanne Kapp took 3 for 16 and was well aided by fellow fast bowler Shabnim Ismail (2-20) and legspinner Suné Luus (2-18).

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West Indies shackled by swing and spin

West Indies have often started slowly before, but this time their big-hitters weren't allowed to open out when the innings prospered

In Twenty20 cricket, West Indies are often known to start slowly with the bat and look to preserve wickets, banking on their big hitters to make up with rapid scoring later in the innings. Against India, their openers began slowly yet again, but this time it might not have been entirely out of choice. India bowled beautifully with the new ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in particular, swung the ball both ways and will wonder how he ended up with no wickets.

Against this sort of bowling, the openers struggled to put bat to ball. Bhuvneshwar had Dwayne Smith tied down for 15 deliveries, conceding just one run. Chris Gayle faced three deliveries from the medium-pacer, taking just a single. That is 18 deliveries within the Powerplay that brought West Indies three runs, which included a wide.

Having just watched impressive young batsmen like Umar Akmal and Glenn Maxwell enliven the Sunday afternoon, the Mirpur crowd had been waiting to see how Gayle and Smith, established T20 stars, would go about attacking the Indian bowlers. Instead, they got to see a struggle.

West Indies' run rate didn't go up by all that much even after Bhuvneshwar went out of the attack. It didn't help them that Gayle was run out just when he was starting to warm up, having hit Mohammed Shami and Amit Mishra for sixes over wide-ish long on.

But those two blows were all West Indies could muster, and you sensed that previous successes with a go-slow strategy at the start may have been at the back of the batsmen's minds. There was no attempt to go after the Indian bowlers, and even Suresh Raina managed to get through two quiet overs.

West Indies captain Darren Sammy gave credit to Bhuvneshwar for bowling 16 dot balls in the Powerplay overs. He did say, though, that West Indies would need to play the spinners with much more authority.

"I think credit must go to the opening bowler," Sammy said. "Kumar swung the ball both ways and bowled in good areas. He kept two of the most dangerous batsmen in world cricket quiet. There is no need to panic for us, it is just one wrong.

"We have three more games left, and we back ourselves to win them. I think we just didn't respond well enough to their spinners. We have a strong feeling that we will meet again, and we are looking forward to that."

India wouldn't have dreamt up a start like this but Suresh Raina did say in the pre-match press conference that West Indies bank more on hitting sixes rather than rotating the strike. This probably is an off-shoot of their usual strategy to start slowly and look for big hits in the later overs. This happened in the 2012 World T20 as well, both in the semi-final against Australia and the final against Sri Lanka.

In the semi-final, Gayle exploded after starting slowly in the first 10 overs while in the final, Marlon Samuels played one of the greatest innings in this format to bail them out. On both occasions, one batsman made it big while others contributed with rapid runs in the end overs.

That didn't happen today. They lost too many wickets in the middle overs, so they never got any momentum going. Their start, thanks to Bhuvneshwar, was even slower than it normally would have been.

Lendl Simmons and Sunil Narine hit three sixes in the last over while Andre Russell hit one in the 18th over. West Indies' average RPO in the first six overs is 6.95, but it was exactly 4.00 in this game. They came close to matching their average RPO of the last five overs in this game, but fell short of a competitive total.

What all of this showed was wickets in hand usually helps for a final push. Today West Indies neither had wickets, nor the runs at the start.

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Panesar begins season with five

Durham 248 (Jennings 64, Panesar 5-63, Hogg 4-35) v MCC
Scorecard

Monty Panesar begins the new season with more questions to answer over his future but he opened a new campaign with another reminder that on the field is his most comfortable environment.

His five wickets ensured the MCC enjoyed the first day of the new season - another pink ball day-night affair in the middle east. Panesar removed three of the top six as county champions Durham posted a moderate total having won the toss.

They were propped up by Keaton Jennings and Scott Borthwick who both made half-centuries. While they were together, Durham were comfortable at 87 for 1 but Borthwick's dismissal to Panesar for 50 ended the only meaningful partnership of the day.

Borthwick, restored to the top order after playing as a legspinning lower-order batsman for both England and England Lions over the winter played a feast-or-famine innings of 11 boundaries. His partner was more circumspect taking 177 balls for his top-score of 64.

But bother batsman fell to Panesar who went on to dismiss Gordon Muchall and Paul Coughlin cheaply. When last man Chris Rushworth was caught behind for a dashing 29, Panesar completed his five-for.

Ollie Rayner also enjoyed conditions with 10 overs that conceded only 18 runs but it was quick bowler Kyle Hogg who also got among the wickets with four scalps.

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Mishra, Kumar head bowlers improvement

As always, it was the most criticised component coming into the tournament. And not as always, India's bowling has clicked so well in their first two World T20 matches, they have even been able to let a misfiring batsman get some practice in the middle.

As surprises go, it could not have come more pleasantly for the Indians. Three of the frontline bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra and R Ashwin, have gone at less than a run a ball against two dangerous opponents in Pakistan and West Indies.

The conditions have been a huge help to the spinners, of course. But they have also stuck to their strengths - Ashwin using his carrom balls and bowling largely fuller lengths and tight lines, barring overdoing it into the pads at times.

Mishra has been a revelation. When you use so much flight in a T20, you often get carted for six, but Mishra has used it the old-fashioned way - to get wickets. There has been turn available, but Mishra has made the most of it by fooling batsmen in the air.

About an hour earlier, even Saeed Ajmal was finding it hard against Australia and Glenn Maxwell and before that, Pakistan had roughed up Brad Hogg. What were the Indian slow bowlers doing differently? Darren Sammy said they had been able to, and also been allowed to, settle down enough to bowl what they wanted to.

"They bowl wicket to wicket," Sammy said. "Normally if you let a spinner settle he will get his line and length and pace and variation at which he wants to bowl. In both games they have settled into a nice rhythm. They controlled the pace of the innings from there."

That they did so against a side that boasted explosive batsmen of the calibre of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels was what pleased MS Dhoni.

"I am really happy to see how the spinners are bowling," Dhoni said. "Yes, there is a bit of help for them but at the same time you have to execute your plans well, especially in this format. You have got some of the big hitters in the opposition that you will have to carefully plan for and innovate at times. So I was really happy that our spinners so far, along with the part-timers and the fast bowlers, have done really well."

With the limelight on the spinners, Bhuvneshwar has quietly gone about his job at the start of the innings. For a while now, the swing had more or less gone missing for him, and Bhuvneshwar without much movement in the air is not even half the bowler with it. But he has been making it dart around in Dhaka and the way he toyed with Dwayne Smith is not a sight one usually sees in T20s, where batsmen usually fall on their own because they play too many shots. In this case, to put bat to ball against Bhuvneshwar was proving difficult for Smith, as he took several away before bringing the odd one back in. A spell of 3-0-3-0 in a T20 is pure gold for a captain.

Sammy praised Bhuvneshwar when asked about West Indies' crawl of a start. "I think credit must go to the opening bowlers," Sammy said. "Kumar swung the ball both in and out and he bowled good areas. We know they were bowling to the two most dangerous openers in this format of the game. They kept them quiet."

Bhuvneshwar was unfortunate not to pick up a wicket, because he seemed to be on the verge of breaking through almost every ball. His role is to make good use of the new ball, Dhoni said, and that is exactly what he did, bowling some big away swingers.

"Make sure he does not give too many loose deliveries," Dhoni said. "The batsmen have to go after him to play the big shot. That will be like a winner for him and today there was a bit of help and he made sure he was bowling in the right areas. That is how he will contribute throughout. Especially in this game I thought he bowled brilliantly. His length was very crucial and he was able to swing the ball."

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Kusal salvo hides seniors' foibles

Sri Lanka's august senior batsmen made 23 collectively, but a 23-year-old's belligerence ensured his team triumphed nonetheless

When a team has three players of the calibre of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan approaching the twilight of their careers, there are bound to be fears about the future. That august trio have nearly 4000 T20I runs between them; against South Africa they made 14, 9 and 0 respectively. That those failures did not extinguish Sri Lanka's chances of victory was largely down to a 23-year-old named Kusal Perera.

If you have heard Kusal's name mentioned without that of Sanath Jayasuriya in close proximity you probably weren't listening hard enough. With his low, southpaw stance and flashing blade, particularly in a wristy ability to clip the ball off his pads, Kusal has an uncanny likeness for the man who is now Sri Lanka's chairman of selectors. Jayasuriya built his reputation with a series of dashing assaults as opener during the 1996 World Cup and Sri Lanka will believe that Kusal can have a similar catalytic effect at this tournament.

T20 continues to push back the limits of the possible in cricket, as anyone who has seen the scorecard from Friday's afternoon match in Sylhet - let alone the shots played by Netherlands' batsmen - would know. This was a more sedate affair, despite the tension at the end, but still it showed how the world has changed, from Kusal's early assault to Albie Morkel's brief dalliance with seeing South Africa home.

Coming into this match, after 11 innings, Perera's T20 strike rate was a touch under 130 - coincidentally, almost the same as Jayasuriya's when he retired (eventually) in 2011. Jayasuriya may have been ahead of his time as a batsman, but that does not mean time won't eventually catch up. Of players to face 500 balls in T20 internationals (Jayasuriya faced 487 despite being indelibly linked to the expansion of one-day cricket a decade or so before) 14 currently score at above 130 per 100 balls, led by Yuvraj Singh at 152.72. Kusal seems likely to join them.

The beefy silhouettes of Chris Gayle, Shane Watson and Aaron Finch tower over the World T20 but power comes in different guises. Kusal and, during South Africa's innings, Quinton de Kock showed that you've got to look out for the little guys as well.

The opening over of the match contained most of the ingredients used to spruik the tournament as a non-stop feast for the senses. Dale Steyn, a man who has razed small towns with a 145kph swinging ball, was slapped for two fours and a six - flicked over deep midwicket from outside off - by Kusal, three impudent blows that mocked the senior man.

Steyn bowled wides on both sides, perhaps a little peeved at being buttonholed like this so early on, having only passed a fitness test on the morning of the game. Then Kusal took a single. Dilshan, also coming back from recent injury, is perhaps at the age where he hopes for a little time to limber up before he gets going. Instead he got ripper that clattered through him and into the top of off. Zing went the bails - they really do look good from the stands - and Steyn's figures read 1-0-17-1 (2w)

	"I think he's got a bright future ahead. For many years to come he'll be a dangerous player to bowl to" AB de Villiers on Kusal Perera

While South Africa worked out what to do with Kusal, they attempted to mitigate the damage he was causing by keeping him off strike. Having faced 16 of the first 24 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes, he was given only 24 of the next 57. Steyn came back - Steyn always comes back - and tested him against the short ball, a top edge landing safely between the bowler and mid-on. Irman Tahir worked further on his patience by pushing his top-spin through wider and Kusal succumbed.

"I think he's got a bright future ahead. I'm not sure how old he is, but for many years to come he'll be a dangerous player to bowl to," South Africa's stand-in captain, AB de Villiers, said afterwards. "I thought he played really well, put us under pressure from the word go, probably caught Dale by surprise with the first couple of balls, going after him. I don't think Dale expected that but he recovered really well after."

The short ball had hinted at a vulnerability and Sri Lanka reported afterwards that Kusal had suffered a blow to the head which required hospital treatment for concussion. But, just as he did last month during a T20 against Bangladesh on the same ground, Kusal had laid the platform for victory. Sri Lanka have played plenty of cricket in this country over the last few weeks and navigated their way around the terrain a little better than South Africa.

Spin proved a little more influential than had been expected, with Sachithra Senanayake and Tahir the most successful bowlers, as pace on the ball merely seemed to help it off the bat. Sri Lanka's seamers, having been able to size up the pitch from the dressing room, shortened their lengths accordingly - with the exception of Lasith Malinga who dealt with another punkish assault from de Kock with a low-slung yorker and proved himself just too difficult to put away until the final ball, with the match already won.

Ahead of the game, Sri Lanka's captain, Dinesh Chandimal, was under orders not to talk about the impending retirements of Sangakkara and Jayawardene. Afterwards, thanks to Kusal, nobody was.

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'We lost momentum at the death' - de Villiers

'Conceded 15 runs too many' - de Villiers

With five overs to go in their opening match at the World T20, South Africa were 115 for 3, needing another 51 runs to win. At the same stage of their innings, Sri Lanka had been 117 for 4. That South Africa failed to get over the line owed something to Sri Lanka's wicket-taking ability and something to a familiar failing of nerve by the chasing side.

Sachithra Senanayake had delivered a tight spell and he capped it by having the set batsman, JP Duminy, caught on the boundary in the 16th over. The lurking threat of Lasith Malinga, who still had two overs to bowl, was perhaps the reason that Albie Morkel tried - and failed - to hit a third consecutive six over long-on against Ajantha Mendis in the 17th. Although the required rate continued to hover around ten an over, South Africa were now five down and the incoming batsman would find he had been left with too much to do.

AB de Villiers, captaining the side in place of the injured Faf du Plessis, said that the plan had been to make sure that no more than eight runs were required off the final over, knowing that Malinga would bowl it. They were left needing 15 and Imran Tahir's six off the last ball perhaps made the result seem closer than it had been.

"There were two areas where we lost the game," de Villiers said. "They certainly got 15 too many, we were very poor in the field. They ran twos on way too many occasions. Too many extras and we've been guilty of that in the past, so something we have to work on and have to get right if we're going to do well in this tournament.

"Then we lost wickets at bad times, I got out at a bad time. When it gets close like that and it's a crunch game, you lose wickets at the wrong time and you lose the game. We lost our momentum towards the end, we needed to get it down to no more than eight off Malinga's last over because he's a really good death bowler, we couldn't do that. Unfortunately we were just not good enough on the day, I thought we were nowhere near 100 percent and that's the disappointing part. I don't mind losing games if we play at 100 percent but we just weren't good enough today."

South Africa have been reluctant to move de Villiers up the order, despite calls for him to be given more time to affect the course of matches, but the dismissal of Quinton de Kock, a left-hander, meant JP Duminy was preferred. De Villiers reiterated the view that his skills were more required in the middle overs.

"With Sri Lanka's spinners, we felt it was important to keep that right-left combination at the crease, so when Quinton de Kock got out we thought it was the best option for us to send JP in, to keep them guessing," de Villiers said. "That's why if Hash got out, I would have gone in, just to keep them on their toes. But we feel it's important with the good spinners."

As it transpired, Amla struggled for fluency and after eight overs South Africa were 47 for 1, with the pressure beginning to rise. Duminy tucked into Thisara Perera and Mendis to help add 28 more by the halfway stage and, with de Villiers alongside him, South Africa appeared to be edging back into the contest, only for both to fall trying to force the pace. De Villiers said going after Mendis had been premeditated but his dismissal of Albie effectively ended the chase.

"It was touch and go. It could have been a six but that's the game, that's the nature of Twenty20 cricket again," de Villiers said. "One inch further and it's a six, that's how it goes. He didn't hit it in the middle - I think it comes down to execution. I think he knows he probably could have hit it better. That's how it goes sometimes, you can't blame one player. I thought we batted quite well for most of the night and unfortunately got out with that fifty-fifty chance going to hand and not over the boundary."

Losing to Sri Lanka, ranked the No. 1 side in the format, need not be terminal for South Africa's semi-final chances and they can take some encouragement from a narrow defeat. Dale Steyn recovered from his first over being hit for 17 to bowl with familiar precision and hostility on his return from injury, while de Kock and Duminy hinted at what the batting may be able to produce. Sri Lanka had raced out of the blocks thanks to Kusal Perera's sparkling innings but de Villiers said Imran Tahir "turned the game around for us" with his 3 for 26.

De Villiers was also hopeful that Faf du Plessis would return to take charge of South Africa's second game, against New Zealand on Monday.

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Raj braces for opener challenge

Mithali Raj has been carrying India's batting for years and the veteran batsman and captain has set herself a new challenge going into the Women's World Twenty20 in Bangladesh. Having batted at No 3 or 4 for most of her career, Raj will open India's innings in the tournament, practising the strategy that the side's best batsman should get the most deliveries in limited-overs formats. While it is an opportunity for her to provide impetus to the team upfront in a world event, Raj also sees it as something of a personal challenge, an attempt to prosper in a format which hasn't exactly been her preferred one.

"I have worked hard on this and would like to give the team good starts," Raj said. "Opening is challenging. I want to challenge myself. Initially when T20 started I never really liked it. But I have come prepared, and have worked mentally very hard to get attuned to this format. I want to rate myself as a T20 player. I want to prove that to myself. I have tried it against Sri Lanka and it has worked."

Raj made 42 and 53 at the top of the order in the warm-up matches against Ireland and New Zealand but she knows too much cannot be read into those scores. And while she may be coming in at the start of the fielding restrictions, she is unlikely to abandon her favoured cover drive for a switch-hit anytime soon.

"My form has been good but I am not getting complacent," she said. "There is a big difference between the warm-ups and the main event. I will play to my strengths. I won't adapt to the extent where you have to make a 360-degree change."

Raj's promotion means the middle order will be marshaled by the capable duo of one-day opener Poonam Raut and vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur, and the captain was pleased that both had hit some form in the practice matches.

"It is good to see them get some runs. It is good that there are a couple of players ready to take responsibility in the middle order," Raj said. "I know that they are always there after me in case I fail to give the start the team wants."

Barring a few of her players striking form, Raj refused to attach any more importance to the warm-ups.

"I don't consider the warm-ups as benchmarks," she said. "They were of course helpful for the girls to get used to the surroundings and the atmosphere. We have two-three new spinners, and it was also a chance for me to gauge them."

The tournament is being staged in the subcontinent, in conditions that India can ideally claim familiarity with. Raj did not think this was the case, at least going by the surfaces she had witnessed for the practice games, which she felt were hard and not quite turners.

At the last world event they played in - the Women's World Cup 2013 in India - the hosts crashed out of the first round with losses to England and Sri Lanka. India find themselves with the same teams at the World T20, in Group B which also has West Indies and Bangladesh. Raj admitted the team faced the pressure of playing a World Cup, but she intended to go in with a clear mind regardless of last year's results.

"We won't carry the past here, that is for sure. (But) irrespective of where the World Cup is played, the pressure is always there," Raj said. "No matter how many world events you have played in, it is always going into a fresh one. Don't think it decreases because you are away from home. The event itself carries huge pressure. Everyone expects you to do well."

India will begin their campaign against Sri Lanka on March 24 in Sylhet.

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Broad aggrieved over lightning call

Average decision-making from umpires - Broad

Stuart Broad did his best to hide his anger after a decision by the umpires on when to take the players off in England's World T20 opener led to defeat against New Zealand via the Duckworth-Lewis method.

With Broad bowling to Brendon McCullum and lightning visible in the sky, the umpires waited until the arrival of rain before calling a halt, crucially allowing proceedings to reach the five-over mark required to constitute a game.

Broad said England could "feel aggrieved" to have lost and suggested the players should have come off the field at the first sign of lightning in the interests of safety. He criticised the decision-making by Aleem Dar and Paul Reiffel, the on-field umpires, but stopped short of saying England would lodge an official complaint.

"To be as polite as I possibly can be I think it was distinctly average decision-making keeping us on after the first lightning strike at the start of the fifth over, keeping us on throughout that," Broad said. "That over has obviously given us a loss.

"I asked the umpires for a bit of clarity on the decision-making at the end of the game and they said they didn't see the lightning and didn't think it was a threat. You can guarantee from our team we felt like it was a threat and with a batsman pulling away from a delivery after 4.2 overs I think the batsman saw it as well.

"At the end of the day it's a game of cricket so I wouldn't be putting the crowd and players' safety under threat."

McCullum pulled away as a flash of lightning lit up the sky with Broad running in to deliver the fifth ball of the fifth over. At that point, New Zealand were level on D/L, although two more deliveries needed to be bowled before it could come into effect. Broad's fifth ball was a dot but McCullum thumped the next for six. After 5.2 overs, with rain falling, Dar and Reiffel decided to call a halt.

Broad and McCullum were to be seen in apparently amicable discussion as the teams went off at the start of a heavy downpour. Broad said there were "four or five" lightning strikes while the players were out in the middle and that he and McCullum, the New Zealand captain, had discussed leading the players off themselves. "It's not sour grapes because I think both sides were uncomfortable being out there in such heavy lightning being around," he said.

The initial rainfall lasted around 20 minutes before appearing to blow over. But, with the umpires due to make an inspection, further rain arrived, causing the match to be abandoned at around 11pm local time.

"I think you should have an umpire in here for some clarity to be honest," Broad said. "There are some questions that need asking to the ICC. I mean it's all very well wanting to finish a game so you can tick a box, etc, but players' health and safety and actually crowd safety is very important and that to me felt like very threatening lightning."

New Zealand bowler Kyle Mills said that the right decision had been made to take the players off, although he felt the timing was a matter for debate. He said that McCullum, who hit 16 off six balls, had "summed up the situation pretty well" to make sure his team were ahead of the D/L par score.

"If Stuart was on the other end of it, he would be more than happy with the decision," Mills said. "In cricket you win some and you lose some, the umpires are trying to make the decisions to the best of their ability. They want to get a full game of cricket on, a judgement call as they see it, and it just so happened that we got another over in the game."

Two of England's previous World T20 campaigns have featured similar defeats. In the Caribbean four years ago, England lost to West Indies after rain reduced their target to 60 in fives overs and then their second match in the first group stage, against Ireland, was washed out. They squeezed through on net run rate before embarking on a five-match unbeaten run to the title. In 2009, when England hosted the tournament, they were effectively knocked out after losing another rain-affected game against West Indies at The Oval.

New Zealand had been set a target of 173 to win after England made the highest total on the ground in the tournament so far, despite no one scoring more than Moeen Ali's 36. Defeat leaves England possibly needing to win all three of their remaining games to reach the semi-finals. They are not in action again until Thursday, when they will take on Sri Lanka, who beat South Africa in the afternoon game on Saturday.

"Nothing we can do about it now, we just have to win our next three games, simple as that," Broad said. "The way we played tonight there's every possibility we can do that. We're still lacking that one player to go on and get a big 60 or 70 but we've got some guys firing and that's a good thing.

"The World Cup we won in 2010 we lost on D/L in the first game, scraped through against Ireland then we won our next five games to win the competition. We have to have the belief that can happen again."

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Main course goes cold as Pakistan falter

After Ireland and Netherlands served up a run-fest in what was meant to be an appetiser to the big clash of the day, Pakistan's batsmen failed to get out of second gear in a disappointing defeat to India

Crowe: Pakistan looked unsettled from the start

It was unfair to expect Pakistan to match what Netherlands did 272km northeast of Shere Bangla National Stadium. But the batting performance that came an hour or so after the six-binge at the Sylhet Stadium was a damp squib even in absolute terms.

Andrew Poynter, Kevin O'Brien, Stephen Myburgh and Tom Cooper concocted the perfect appetizer ahead of an India-Pakistan game, but despite the plethora of stroke-players in both sides, the main course only had six sixes after those 30 big ones in the Ireland-Netherlands game. Boredom seeped into the Mirpur crowd as they went for the Mexican Wave as early as the sixth over of the Pakistan innings.

Pakistan were underwhelming from the start, never threatening India with a spell of batting at any stage. They were restricted to 130 for 7, a below-par total by any standard. They wouldn't have been expected to defend the total too, having defended a total below 130 only once in Twenty20s - against Sri Lanka in Hambantota two years ago.

But the biggest disappointment was their batting as a whole, which was built through four poor clusters. Mohammad Hafeez picked out the Kamran Akmal run-out as the reason for the poor start but Ahmed Shehzad and the captain himself failed to force the issue in the first six overs.

Pakistan made 34 runs in the Powerplay, after which they lost the way further by losing two more wickets and adding just 16 more runs till the 10-over mark. From 50 for 3, Pakistan still had hopes from the remaining batsmen, particularly the pair in the middle - Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik - who were steadying the ship and slightly threatening. But as it happened, the danger was minimal for India.

"You have to set the tone right from the start," Hafeez said. "But unfortunately one run out at the start of the innings and the pitch - the ball was not coming on to the bat and there was some spongy bounce in it. That's the reason we couldn't get that total in the first 10 overs.

"But still I believe that partnership between Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik gave us some hope that we can score 150 on this track. But those three overs after the 15th, we couldn't get the momentum right and we couldn't get that total."

In the three-over period after the 15th, Pakistan added just eight runs and lost two wickets, enough to derail them. Sohaib Maqsood tried a few angles and was briefly successful, hitting two fours and a six, but that was the only six of the innings, and it was never going to be enough in the last few overs.

In the Powerplay overs, Pakistan's average RPO is 6.95, and in the next two slots, from the seventh to the tenth over and from the eleventh to the fifteenth, they usually score at 6.70 and 8.29 per over respectively. They batted below par in those three slots, and finally in the last five, they were 34 for 4, as opposed to the 8.71 they usually get in this time.

Hafeez said the wicket wasn't good enough to have a target in mind, but bemoaned the lack of one big score. Akmal made 33, the highest score in the innings.

"In a match like this, you need one big knock which unfortunately we didn't get this time," Hafeez said. "But still, these conditions - the ball turning - that is more suited to us against Australia and the other teams and our batting must play its role, there is no doubt about that."

As far as the opening match of the Super 10s is concerned, this was below-par. Pakistan, having always had the tag of being one of the favourites in World T20s, have to turn up with a better plan next time.

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ICC rules out changes to ODI rules before World Cup

The amendments to the ODI playing conditions introduced in October 2011 will stay in place till next year's World Cup, the ICC has said. The amendments include the use of two new balls, which has been opposed by India and other south Asian countries as it affects spinners.

ICC chief executive Dave Richardson has said the regulations will be reviewed after the marquee event, to be hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand. India has been the flag-bearer of the subcontinental countries' movement against the new rules, which at times have resulted in the balance of the game tilting heavily in favour of the batsmen.

"We're not going to consider any changes prior to the World Cup," Richardson said in Dhaka on Friday. "After the World Cup the rules will be reviewed by the cricket committee again. As I said, we wanted to create a more attacking 50-over game, one that could compete on the entertainment scales with T20 cricket. It's too early to say. I think it's led to a more attacking game from a bowling and fielding perspective."

The BCCI, who had consistently raised the matter during ICC Board meetings over the last year, said they couldn't do anything till the World Cup but stuck to their stand. "There is a need to review is what India has been saying and there should be a fair contest between bat and ball which isn't the case now," a BCCI insider told ESPNcricinfo.

In fact, the BCCI's attempt to get the system overhauled was foiled in an ICC Chief Executives' meeting in September 2013. "There was a voting process and India along with Pakistan, Bangladesh voted against use of two new balls," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel had said after the meeting. "Australia, New Zealand, England and Zimbabwe were among those in favour of using two new balls while West Indies and South Africa abstained from voting. We have expressed our reservations about using of two new balls."

According to the new regulations that came in place in October 2011, two fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle in the mandatory Powerplay of ten overs, and three during the batting Powerplay, which needs to be taken between the 16th and the 40th over. At other times, a maximum of four fielders can be placed outside the circle, a reduction from the earlier five. Most importantly, two new balls are used from each end.

The use of two new balls has resulted in the spinners finding it difficult to get into the game. Besides, in subcontinental conditions, reverse swing is also almost taken out of equation, thus resulting in the totals moving upwards with every passing series. In fact, India captain MS Dhoni said during the high-scoring ODI series against Australia last year that the new rules had converted bowlers into "bowling machines".

"Yes, runs per over might have increased and bowlers, at times on flat wickets, find it very tough," Richardson said. "But essentially the best bowlers are still top of the bowling rankings and the best batsmen still top of the batting rankings.

"We just might need to change our perceptions. In the old days, if you scored a run a ball everyone said you had a tremendous strike-rate. Now they're saying you have to be 120-130. Same with the bowlers. In the old days, Fanie de Villiers got upset if he went for more than three runs per over. Now, bowlers only get upset when they go for more than six runs an over. Yes, things have changed. But I don't necessarily think for the bad."

Another BCCI functionary agreed that "too many changes just before the World Cup won't be good" but stressed that the BCCI will continue to strive for getting the balance of ODIs back in place after the World Cup.

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