A match that had witnessed an unprecedented level of drama, backroom negotiations and political posturing turned into a no-contest on the field as India overpowered Pakistan by 61 runs in their T20 World Cup clash in Colombo on Sunday.
After weeks of uncertainty over the fate of the match that had at one point threatened the very fabric of international cricket, the clash between the south Asian rivals finally got under way at the R Premadasa Stadium.
Once the cricket began, India showed why they are the defending champions and the most dominant team in the format.
Opening batter Ishan Kishan, who was a late addition to the team, blasted 77 from just 40 balls to lay the foundation for an impressive total of 175-7 on a slow pitch.
Pakistan's chase never got going as they lost four wickets inside the powerplay - mainly to seamers.
Then, India's spinners took over to bowl Pakistan out for 114 and complete a 61-run win.
Fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya and spinners Axar Patel and Varun Charavarthy all took two wickets each in a comprehensive win.
Only Usman Khan (44) put up any fight with the bat as Pakistan's top order got out for single digit scores.
Earlier, Pakistan decided to bowl first even though the wicket was expected to get slower and lower as the match progressed.
They did get the perfect start as the dangerous Abhishek Sharma fell for a duck in the first over to the part-time spin of Salman Agha.
However, from there, Kishan went into overdrive as he blasted 10 fours and three sixes, taking on Pakistan's vaunted spin attack.
India did well to negate the threat posed by the likes of Abrar Ahmed (0-38) and mystery spinner Usman Tariq (1-24).
However, they could not find an answer to Saim Ayub who finished with 3-25 and took the scalps of Kishan and Hardik Pandya.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav held the innings together with a composed 32 off 29 while Shivam Dube hit a quick 27 to take the score to a challenging 175.
It became clear India had put up an above par score as India's seamers made early inroads. Pandya removed the dangerous Sahibzada Farhan while Bumrah cranked up the speed to 90mph to snare two early wickets.
The body blow was delivered by Axar who rattled the stumps of Babar Azam who went for an ugly sweep across the line.
After Usman was stumped off the bowling of Axar, Pakistan were tottering at 73-5. Soon, India handed the ball to part-time spinners Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh, with the former even picking up a wicket.
With the win, India secured their spot in the Super Eight stage of the tournament.
Pakistan captain Agha said his team's spinners could not deliver on a pitch that suited them.
"We went with four spinners, they had an off-day. Execution was missing in some parts," Agha said.
"With the bat, we did not start well. If you lose three, four wickets in the powerplay, you are always chasing the game."
His counterpart Suryakumar praised Kishan for his counter-attacking knock after the loss of Abhishek's wicket.
"Ishan thought something out of the box. At 0-1, someone needed to take responsibility and he did that amazingly," the captain said.
