India vs Pakistan: Champions Trophy Rivalry

3. 2013 Edgbaston, Birmingham

In this edition of Champions Trophy which is renownedly known as Mini World Cup. India were in great form and had beaten South Africa and West Indies. Pakistan, on the other hand, were beaten by the same two sides and were out of the tournament. Pakistan were playing this match for pride and India were just looking to extend their dominance in the tournament and open their winning account against their rivals in this event. Also, the match was interrupted by rain quite a few times.

India won the toss and chose to field first in overcast conditions. Men in blue bowled excellently in the game which was curtailed to 40 overs and Pakistan somehow crawled to 165 which was nowhere near competitive. India as expected, raced their way to the victory by scoring 102, the target set by Duckworth-Lewis method as the rain continued to interrupt right through their chase.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was declared Man of the Match for his excellent spell of 2/19 in eight overs. Finally, India had managed to beat Pakistan in the Champions Trophy and it was a pretty easy win as the Pakistani team didn’t look competitive enough.

Once again this year India look firm favourites against their arch-rivals but Pakistan is a dangerous side and could never be taken lightly. Interestingly, both Kohli and Sarfraz will be leading their sides for the first time in an ICC tournament. The match would surely be a treat to watch for the fans and the outcome might well decide the road ahead for them in the tournament.