Ahmedabad, OCT 14: India carried on to their fantastic form in the ICC World Cup 2023 and recorded a seven-wicket win against Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Saturday.
Rohit Sharma, who scored 140 against Pakistan in the 2019 World Cup, showcased his batting skills once again and top-scored for the winning side with 86 off 63 balls. His rapid knock included 12 boundaries.
Other than the 36-year-old, Shreyas Iyer was the second top-scorer for the winning side as he contributed 53 runs.
The dominant batting display by the Indian batters saw the home side reach the 192-run target in the 31st over, with 118 balls to spare, massively improving their net run rate (NRR).
This was India’s record eighth win in as many matches against the arch-rivals in World Cup history.
Be it bowling or batting, the day belonged to the Indians as their pacers, in the first innings, dismantled the Pakistani batting and restricted them to 191 runs with all of their five key bowlers — Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya — taking two wickets each.
With the exception of Babar Azam (50), Mohammad Rizwan (49), Imam-ul-Haq (36) and Abdullah Shafique (20), none of the batters showed any significant resistance with the bat as the entire side returned to the pavilion for just 191 runs.
The Men in Green were 155-2 and faced a big collapse as they lost eight wickets for 36 runs only.
Pakistan’s middle-order consisting of Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan failed to score in double digits.
India have now won three out of three matches in the World Cup and their next match is against Bangladesh in Pune on October 19, while the Green Shirts play Australia next in Bengaluru on October 20.
Things might continue to get difficult for Babar Azam-led Pakistan as their next three matches are against Australia, Afghanistan and dominant South Africa — the latter two matches are on the tricky wicket of Chennai.
Teams
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf
