World Cup match review: India vs Pakistan; India make it 6-0

World Cup match review: India vs Pakistan; India make it 6-0: All the hype and expectation that led to the tickets of the India-Pakistan game being sold out in less than 20 minutes proved to be true. The match was between the Indian batting and Pakistani bowlers. And both them came out on top in this match that was filled with all the excitement and highlight reel moments. Read on for the review of this exciting clash between India and Pakistan.

Seeing the amount of excitement and tension amongst not only the players but also amongst the spectators, Dhoni decided to bat first after winning the toss in a jam packed Adelaide ground.

India decided to bring in 2 spinners owing to the slow pace of the Adelaide wicket. Also came in Mohit Sharma in place of still unfit Bhuvaneswar Kumar. Pakistan also played Yasir Shah and Younis Khan moved to the top of the order to open with Ahmed Shahzad.

India began their innings cautiously to eliminate the swing that Mohd. Irfan and Sohail Khan were getting. But India lost Rohit Sharma to a poor shot to Sohail Khan. Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli then came together to build a partnership and raise the run rate gradually before a mix up cost India the wicket of Dhawan via run out for 73 runs. Dhawan and Kohli put 129 runs for the second wicket.

Virat Kohli was joined by Suresh Raina and both of them started to pick up some pace with some hard hitting. But Kohli got bogged down as he approached his century and that brought just 25 runs in the second mandatory power play. Sohail Khan came back to dismiss both Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli in quick succession to kill any momentum that India had going into the last 7-8 overs. Virat Kohli became the first Indian batsman to score a century in World cup against Pakistan.

India managed to make just 300 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in their 50 overs. Sohail Khan picked up 5 wickets for 55 runs on his World cup debut.

The Pakistani innings started similar to Indian one with caution, but they lost Younis Khan for just 6 runs. Younis was promoted to open so that Pakistan could play an extra spinner. Haris Sohail then joined Shehzad to lend some solidarity to the Pakistani innings and added 68 runs before being dismissed by a snorter of a delivery by R. Ashwin. Dhoni built pressure by bowling Mohit Sharma on a tight line and length, along with Ashwin who bowled 3 consecutive maiden overs. Umesh Yadav then returned to dismiss both Ahmed Shehzad and Shoaib Maqsood in one over to break Pakistan’s back. Ravindra Jadeja accounted for Umar Akmal and Pakistan slipped to 103/5. Misbah and Shahid Afridi tried to mend something back but Mohammad Shami dismissed Afridi for 22 via a brilliant catch by Virat Kohli. Shami then dismissed Wahab Riaz to end any hope of a comeback from the Pakistani tail end.

In the end, it was a single handed effort by Misbah to minimize the margin of defeat and to also try and score his first ODI ton, but he was dismissed by Mohd. Shami mistiming a pull shot on a bouncer, caught by Ajinkya Rahane. Pakistan was bowled out for 224 in 47 overs with Mohit Sharma finishing off the tail and picking 2 wickets for himself.

Though the match lacked the intensity and focus of last tournament’s encounters, the win will be a huge boost for the Indian team who were struggling for past 2-3 months looking for a win in Australia. This makes India 6-0 against Pakistan in World Cup encounters.

Virat Kohli was adjudged Man of the match for his brilliant century which helped India win this match.

Brief Scores:
India 300/7 (V Kohli 107, S Raina 74; Sohail Khan 5/55) beat Pakistan 224/10 in 47 overs (Misbah76, A Shehzad 47 ;M Shami 4/35) by 76 runs.