India routed Pakistan by seven wickets in the ODI World Cup clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Pakistan collapsed from 155-2 to be all out for 191 before India coasted home to their target with 117 balls to spare.
India captain Rohit Sharma got India off to a flying start in their chase after Pakistan collapsed to 191 all out. Shubman Gill made a bright start in his first innings since recovering from dengue. He scored 16 in 11 balls before falling to Shaheen Afridi.
Kohli was also looking good before falling to Hasan Ali, leaving Shreyas Iyer in the middle with Rohit. Rohit went on to miss out on a second consecutive century in this tournament, eventually falling for 86 off 63. Shreyas Iyer hit the winning runs with a four and in the process, he managed to get to a half-century as well.
Earlier, India staged a stunning comeback in the middle over to bowl Pakistan out for 191. Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja picked two wickets each as Pakistan lost eight wickets from 155/2 for just 39 runs.
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were in the middle of a partnership that looked rather threatening for India after two timely strikes from Mohammed Siraj and Hardik Pandya got rid of the Pakistan openers. But once Siraj had the Pakistan captain playing on, ending the 82-run stand, Pakistan’s wheels came off. Kuldeep had Saud Shakeel out LBW before bowling Iftikhar Ahmed around his legs.
Shortly after Bumrah bowled a peach to dismiss Rizwan and then subsequently removed Shadab Khan in the next over. The collapse continued for Pakistan and they were eventually all out for 191.
So a 53 not out from Shreyas Iyer to finish things off for India who hit the winning runs off Nawaz, a boundary down the ground after Rohit Sharma’s blistering 86 off 63 which had set the tone for the run chase meant India won the match with 117 balls remaining to go top of the table.
The win was, however, set by the Indian bowling performance and it is fitting that Bumrah gets the Player Of The Match for his 2/19. Mohammed Siraj (2/50), Hardik Pandya (2/34), Kuldeep Yadav (2/35) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/38) were all impressive.
India now have three wins in a row and their net run rate better than New Zealand who also have six points from three matches.
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