Best Images from India vs Pakistan World T20: India-Pakistan solidarity, Raina's ghost from the past, Kohli's message to the Gods

Virat Kohli’s record-breaking fifty helped India beat Pakistan for the 11th time in World Cups at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. India won the toss and elected to bowl first and that proved to be decisive as another Kohli masterclass helped India claimed their first win of the 2016 ICC World T20.After being put into bat, Pakistan could only manage 118/5 as India's spinner turned on the squeeze. They only got there thanks Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal. But once Kohli got going there was little that could be done as another unbeaten fifty helped India get off the mark.Here are the best frames that were captured in the course of the match.

#1 Match flagged off with elaborate ceremony

After the embarrassing confusion that reigned over which Indian city was safe enough to host the Pakistan team, the inauguration of the match at the Eden Gardens was such a carnival that it would have soothed some of the anger that the episode is sure to have incited.

Amitabh Bachchan and Shafaqat Amanat Ali were present as the national anthems of the two nations blared before the match, two golden voices from the respective countries.

#2 India-Pakistan solidarity

In what was a soothing sight after all the hatred that has been spewed in recent times, the India and the Pakistan flags were given equal pride of place in the same stand at the Eden Gardens.

#3 Pandya hurts himself but takes a stunner

Pakistan got off to a slow but solid start, and it was to take something special for India to break their easy momentum. Hardik Pandya was the man of the hour, taking an impossible catch in the outfield.

He ran a lot of distance but it still looked like the ball would fall short of him, but then Pandya leaped forward with both hands and pulled off a sensational catch. He hurt himself in the process and had to leave the field for a short duration. At the cost of pain, Pandya had delivered India their first wicket.

#4 Raina\'s part-timers do the trick

India had tried four of their frontline bowlers but no Pakistani wicket was forthcoming. It was Suresh Raina, with his disciplined bowling, who gave his team the breakthrough.

Raina was not bowled after his solitary over, but his figures of 1-0-4-1 indicate that he could have been used more.

#5 Afridi falls, Pandya leaps

Hardik Pandya, India’s livewire, was not done with just a single breaktaking catch in the outfield. The occasion demanded more from him. He got out the danger man Shahid Afridi in the 12th over, and gave a leap fitting for the moment.

Afridi mistimed a lofted shot from outside his off stump, and Kohli clutched on gratefully.

#6 Sami comes back to haunt Raina

After a slow start in the Indian innings, the 5th over was the one that was nightmarish for the Indian fan, as it looked like Mohammad Sami was digging a hole for the team similar to the one in which they had been buried against the Kiwis earlier this week.

Suresh Raina’s wicket left India tottering at 23/3, and Raina was shocked – not just at the fact that is leg stump was gone, but also because it must have seemed to him that the 35-year-old Sami had come back from a generation ago to haunt him, still bowling at over 140kmph.

#7 Fiery Sami rattles India

Mohammad Sami was on fire in the match against India, and he was the bowler who caused most fear in the India camp. His aggression put India on the back foot and the visitors in the driver’s seat.

He had been taken in the team ahead of Imad Wasim, and Sami fully justified the team change.

#8 Kohli\'s message to the gods

Virat Kohli played a knock that has become characteristic of the knocks he plays – a matchwinning knock in the biggest of occasions. As wickets tumbled around him, Kohli confidently held the innings around him.

He was not as vocal during his knock as he is wont to be, the celebration after reaching his 50 also not reaching the heights of showmanship that he has showed before. As the battle was won, however, Kohli could be seen raising his bat to the skies in a silent communication.

#9 Kohli-Dhoni take India to safe shores

A picture that can go down as one signifying the current period in Indian cricket – MS Dhoni with the gloves off after having hit the winning runs, and Virat Kohli taking the plaudits for having taken his team to victory.

#10 Big B raises a victorious battle cry

The Eden Gardens was host to a number of celebrities for the high-octane Pakistan match, among them Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan. As the winning runs were hit, Tendulkar broke out in a wide beaming smile, and Bachchan let out a loud roar, one that summed up the roar that was going through the rest of the nation at that very moment.

Big B was soon seen waving the India tricolour with all the energy that he could muster. A truly great victory had been won!