Another comprehensive win for India against their arch-rivals in the World Cup. Twenty-seven years, seven games and no success for Pakistan against India. India is too strong for Pakistan in World Cup matches and this now even the Pakistani fans have started to accept it.
Pakistan won the toss and decided to bowl under overcasts condition, that was their first mistake. Pakistan brought one extra spinner in overcasts condition that too against the Indian batting line, that was their second mistake.
The golden thumb-rule of cricket in a pressure game is simple, win the toss and bat first, Sarfaraz chose the other way. Rohit has improved a lot as a player and senior batsman. He is in sublime form in this World Cup and being the senior opening partner, took the responsibility of scoring runs quickly. KL Rahul was cautious at the start, but that eventually helped India as the openers added 136 runs for the first wicket.
Rohit Sharma reached his hundred in 85 balls and with Kohli, he added 98 runs for the second wicket. Rohit smashed beautiful 140 off just 113 balls before getting out, but by that time, India had already cemented their position in the game.
Kohli (77) with the help of Pandya (28) and Shankar (15), took the score to 336 for 5 wickets in 50 overs.
Indian Innings
On a big day, India's big-name batsmen delivered. Here are their best shots! #INDvPAK #CWC19 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/kIta58HmAc
— ICC (@ICC) June 16, 2019
No team has successfully chased down 336 runs in a World Cup requiclash. Pakistan needed to score some quick runs in the first powerplay. Instead of going after the Indian bowling, Pakistani openers started cautiously. Imam-ul-Haq was plumbed in front of the wicket off Shankar’s bowling with just 13 runs on board in 4.5 overs. Fakhar Zaman and Baba Azam steadied the innings and added 104 runs for the 2nd wicket, however, they batted a little slow, and both lost their wickets in trying to score quickly. Kuldeep Yadav bowled a jaffa to Baba Azam and dismissed him in the 24th over. Pakistan was still in the game, but Kuldeep had other ideas, he got Fakhar this time, who was the main hope of the Pakistani team and its fans.
Hardik Pandya took two in two, by dismissing Hafeez and Shoaib (for a golden duck) on consecutive balls he completely shut down the hopes of the supporters of the Pakistan cricket team. Pakistan has now lost four wickets in the space of 24 balls adding only 12 runs on board.
Rain reduced the Pakistani innings to 40 overs, and the revised target for Pakistan was 302 runs. An impossible task for lower order batsmen, The Indian bowlers completed the formality. Rohit Sharma was declared Man of the Match for his 140 runs.
Pakistan Innings (Fall of Wickets)
Watch Kuldeep Yadav's magical delivery to dismiss Babar Azam, and all the other Pakistan wickets #INDvPAK #CWC19 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/ybqvLYy9Ul
— ICC (@ICC) June 16, 2019
STATS
- Rohit took 85 balls to score his hundred; this is his 3rd fastest ODI Hundred. His fastest was off 82 balls, against England at Trent Bridge last year.
- Rohit’s 140 runs are now his 3rd World Cup hundred, Only Tendulkar (6) and Ganguly (4) have more World Cup hundreds for India.
- Baba Azam and Fakhar Zaman added 104 runs for the 2nd wicket; this is their first hundred runs partnership against India in World Cup history.
- MS Dhoni has now played 341 ODIs for India, only Sachin Tendulkar (463) has played more ODIs for India.
- Virat Kohli became the fastest man to reach 11,000 runs in ODIs. He took just 223 innings to achieve this milestone. Previous best – Sachin Tendulkar in 276 Innings.
- 336/5 by India is the highest by any team against Pakistan in the history of World Cups, surpassing 334/9 by England in Nottingham earlier in the tournament.
- Rohit Sharma became the fourth Indian batsman to score five consecutive 50-plus scores (95, 56, 122, 57 and 140) in ODI cricket. The other Indians to achieve the feat are Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli (twice) and Ajinkya Rahane.
