Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India]: India skipper Rohit Sharma’s flowing form dismantled Pakistan’s famed bowling attack as the Men in Blue put up a dominating performance with bat and ball in the marquee World Cup clash here to register a comprehensive seven-wicket victory.
The Indian batters looked well poised from the beginning to chase the Pakistan total of 191 as Babbar Azam-led men suffered a collapse, losing the last eight wickets for 36 runs. India won the toss and put Pakistan to bat.
Shubman Gill, who made his first appearance in the ODI World Cup, scored some scintillating hits before losing his wicket. He struck three consecutive fours off Hasan Ali in the second over of the Indian innings.
Shubhman was out on Shaheen Shah Afridi’s bowling and the hope his wicket may have generated among Pakistan fans was short-lived.
Virat Kohli joined Rohit, who was smooth in his power hitting. Kohli also came up with some strong blows before he was caught off the bowling of Hasan Ali during the powerplay.
Rohit and Shreyas took charge and strode along even as Pakistan bowlers tried hard to get a breakthrough.
The sea of Indian fans, many of them dressed in blue, cheered and waved as Indian batsmen struck.
Rohit fell short of his well-deserved century by 14 runs. Shaheen claimed his second wicket of the night with Rohit walked back to the pavilion with a score of 86.
In his well-paced innings, Rohit crossed the milestone of 300 ODI sixes which have come in 254 matches. With 351 sixes in 308 games, former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi leads the tally, while West Indies legend Chris Gayle hammered 331 maximums in 301 encounters.
After Rohit’s departure, Shreyas 53* and KL 19* guided India to a comprehensive 7-wicket victory to make it 8-0 in the World Cup between the two arch-rivals.
Earlier in the innings, Indian bowlers shattered Pakistan’s batting lineup as Bumrah, Siraj, Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja bagged two wickets each.
Pakistan were all out for 191 runs in 42.5 overs. Captain Babar Azam scored the highest for Pakistan with 50 (58 balls) while Mohammad Rizwan scored 49.
Pakistan openers Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq started in a positive fashion. While playing cautiously against the disciplined Jasprit Bumrah, the duo took their chances against some loose deliveries from Mohammed Siraj.
Rohit, however, persisted with his pacers, and the move bore fruit as ‘Miya Magic’ Siraj struck in the eighth over and got one to jag in, trapping Abdullah Shafique’s leg before.
Imam and captain Babar Azam tried to ensure that Pakistan went ahead at a healthy scoring rate.
Babar got off to a fine start pretty quickly, hitting three fours off Hardik Pandya in his first 10 balls. Just when Pakistan was closing into a run rate close to six, Imam went for an expansive drive and ended up edging a Pandya delivery to wicket-keeper KL Rahul.
Ravindra Jadeja provided India with a chance for another wicket, however, Mohammad Rizwan reviewed and survived the call after it turned out that the ball was straying down the leg side.
hit the pads of Mohammad Rizwan, and the umpire raised his finger. However, Rizwan reviewed and survived the call after it turned out that the ball was straying down the leg side. Rizwan then joined forces with Babar to keep Pakistan close to five at the 20-over mark.
Over the following few overs, India’s spinners consistently controlled the game, with Kuldeep Yadav in particular displaying excellent control. When the Pakistani duo scored 13 runs against Siraj in the 28th over, they were freed from their chains. Babar’s magnificent four through the point against India helped him to his ODI half-century.
But in the 30th over, Siraj beat Babar’s outside edge and his delivery slammed into his off-stump.
India’s star spinner Kuldeep then gave Pakistan two big blows as he removed Saud Shakeel for 6 and Iftikhar Ahmed (4) in the 33rd over.
In the 34th over, Jasprit Bumrah completely bamboozled Rizwan with a beauty and removed the Pakistan batter. Rizwan failed to get to his first ODI fifty against India and went back to Pavellion just one run shy away from fifty.
Bumrah castled another wicket in quick succession as he sent Shadab Khan packing after scoring just 2 runs.
Hardik delivered a superb ball to dismiss Mohammad Nawaz for 4 in the 40th over while in the next over Ravindra Jadeja sent Hasan Ali packing for 12, leaving Pakistan tottering at 187/9.
Jadeja then dismissed Pakistan’s last batter Haris Rauf, bundling out arch-rival for 191 in 42.5 overs.
Brief score: Pakistan 191 (Babar Azam 50, Mohammad Rizwan 49; Jasprit Bumrah 2-19) vs India 192/3 (Rohit Sharma 86, Shreyas Iyer 53*; Shaheen Afridi 2-36).
