Twitter Reactions: Dominant India steamroll Pakistan to make it 7-0 in the World Cup

Pakistan were never in the game after conceding 336 runs after opting to field first.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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2 Min Read

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Team India. (Photo Source: Twitter)

India continue their dominance over Pakistan in the World Cup. They registered their seventh consecutive win over the arch-rivals in the mega event and it was a complete team effort eventually. Though the game was reduced to 40 overs due to rain, the result was a foregone conclusion almost halfway through Pakistan’s innings when they collapsed. Rohit Sharma was the hero for India with a scintillating century before the bowlers did enough to pip Pakistan out of the contest.

Chasing a steep total of 337 runs, the Men in Green needed a good start. But Imam-ul-Haq was pinned in front of the stumps by Vijay Shankar off his first ever delivery in the World Cup. Shankar also became the first Indian to do so. India were dealt with an injury blow with Bhuvneshwar Kumar walking off the field due to tightness in his left hamstring. But Shankar filled up for him superbly when it mattered the most.

After the fall of an early wicket, Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman played it sensibly to stitch a decent partnership. They survived a tricky phase when the ball was new and then churned some quick runs by playing aggressive strokes. The required run-rate touched 8 and when they started to play their shots, India, for a moment, was under pressure.

Kuldeep spins the game

However, Kuldeep Yadav changed the game completely by picking both the batsmen in two consecutive overs. At the other end, Hardik Pandya struck gold as he sent back the veterans Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik off successive deliveries. Pakistan were sitting pretty at 117/1 at one stage and in a matter of 19 balls, they were left reeling at 129/5. The hopes of gunning down the total were crushed so quickly even though Imad Wasim and the scratchy Sarfaraz Ahmed stitched a small partnership then.

The required run-rate was getting big on Pakistan with every passing over and the Pakistan skipper also got out after playing a massive 30 balls for his 12 runs. At 166/6, it started raining only for the game to be reduced to 40 overs and the target for them was 302. Clearly, Pakistan were never going to get those runs and India completed the formalities to win the match by 89 runs.

Rohit and Virat put Pakistan into submission

Earlier in the day, it was all about Rohit Sharma when Pakistan won the toss and opted to field. After playing out the first five overs, the Indian opener slammed the lacklustre bowling attack to all the parts of the ground. He and KL Rahul added 136 runs for the opening wicket in less than 24 overs and this is where Pakistan lost the contest. After opting to bowl first, they had hoped for some early wickets.

But they played into India’s strengths by not bowling enough in the wicket-taking channels. Even after KL Rahul got out, there was no respite with Virat Kohli walking in and smashing the ball with disdain. Rohit Sharma got to his 24th ODI century while the Indian skipper scored his 51st half-century of the format.

Both the batsmen went through their motions after some time to churn some quick runs and even though India lost wickets, in the end, thanks to Mohammad Amir’s decent bowling, they already had too much on the board. Eventually, they ended up on 336 runs for the loss of five wickets after 50 overs and the score looked always out of Pakistan’s reach.

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