Manchester, June 17 – India on Sunday beat Pakistan by 89 runs (DLS method) in their rain-interrupted 2019 ICC World Cup clash at Manchester’s Old Trafford stadium.
Put to bat first after Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss, India, powered by Rohit Sharma’s 140 (113), set a target of 337. Pakistan, in reply, reached 166/6 in 35 overs before rain caused a temporary halt to the proceedings. On resumption, their revised target was 302 and they had to chase it down in 40 overs. Only managing to reach 212/6, they fell to their third defeat of the tournament.
Pakistan were dealt an early blow in the chase when Vijay Shankar dismissed Imam-ul-Haq off his very first ball of the match. Brought on to finish the fifth over after Bhuvneshwar Kumar pulled up with a hamstring injury after bowling the fourth ball, Shankar sent in a full delivery that swung back into the left-handed Imam and hit his pads. Imam decided not to review the decision and Pakistan lost their first wicket inside the first five overs.
Shankar is the third bowler to have taken a wicket off his very first ball in the World Cup.
However, Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam temporarily steadied the ship for Pakistan with a 104-run stand for the second wicket. The pair struggled for runs early on but soon found their rhythm and pegged back the Indian pacers. The breakthrough eventually came only after Virat Kohli introduced the spinners.
Kuldeep Yadav, bowling the 24th over, disturbed the stumps behind Babar with a tossed-up delivery that drifted away from the 24-year-old.
In his next over, he got Zaman and it was all downhill for Pakistan from there.
Hardik Pandya came in then and dismissed veterans Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik off consecutive balls in the 27th over. Sarfraz Ahmed then became Shankar’s second wicket of the day and Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan werein the middle when rain brought a stop to the proceedings.
With the target revised down to 302 – but in 40 overs, Pakistan now needed to score 136 runs off the last five overs. Imad and Shadab managed to take them to 212/6.
Rohit Sharma led the charge for India with the bat. The Indian vice-captain hit his second century of the tournament and shared a 136-run opening stand with K.L. Rahul. Rahul, batting at the top of the order in place of the injured Shikhar Dhawan, scored 57 off 78 deliveries before falling to Wahab Riaz.
Rohit was then ably given company by captain Virat Kohli and the pair added 98 for the second wicket. Rohit eventually fell to a loose shot off Wahab after which Kohli anchored the latter end of the innings. He was eventually dismissed when he seemingly got a faint edge to the keeper off Mohammad Amir. Although Kohli walked, umpire Marais Erasmus never raised the finger and replays showed that there was a significant gap between the bat and ball.
Kedar Jadhav and Shankar pushed India’s total to 336.
This is India’s third win of the tournament and they jump to third on the table, behind second-placed New Zealand on the basis of net run rate. Pakistan, who sink to the ninth place, now need to win all of their remaining matches to make it to the knockouts.
Brief scores: India: 336/5 in 50 overs (Rohit Sharma 140, Virat Kohli 77; Mohammad Amir 3/47)
Pakistan: 212/6 in 40 overs (Fakhar Zaman 62, Babar Azam 48; Vijay Shankar 2/22)
For such an intense rivalry, it’s still a lopsided contest when India and Pakistan meet at the Cricket World Cup.
India extended its record to 7-0 against Pakistan at World Cups with an 89-run victory in a rain-interrupted encounter Sunday that likely will remain the most-watched game of the six-week tournament.
India started ominously with Rohit Sharma scoring 140 from 113 deliveries and skipper Virat Kohli contributing 77 in a total of 336-5, a record for a one-day international at Old Trafford.
Pakistan was always behind the run-rate required.
Fakhar Zaman (62) and Babar Azam (48) put on 104 for the second wicket but when both were dismissed by left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav within nine balls, Pakistan’s hopes faded with them.
Pakistan had slumped to 166-6 by 35th over when rain intervened again. It just prolonged the inevitable _ there was no chance of sharing the points because both teams had batted more than 20 overs.
Set a revised target of 302 from 40 overs, the last 30-odd balls were a non-event. Pakistan finished 212-6, and India extend its unbeaten run to four games to start the tournament.
Sharma said the key was not getting caught up in the hype of any rivalry between the countries and the extra attention it brings.
“For us it’s pretty simple, we’re here to win the game, not look at the opposition,” he said. “We’re here on a mission. Our focus is to make sure we accomplish that mission. All the outside talk will keep happening _ for us it’s just make sure we get the job done.”
The conditions didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of a predominantly pro-India crowd that filled the 162-year-old venue to its 23,500 capacity. Seats were in excessively high demand, after all, with the International Cricket Council reporting more than 800,000 ticket applications for the game.
There’s always extra significance when the nuclear-armed neighbouring countries meet at ICC tournaments because India and Pakistan play cricket so infrequently in bilateral series.
This was no different, with a 1 billion-plus TV audience and an almost football-like atmosphere at the ground.
Kohli’s single to get off the mark was greeted by “Kohli-Kohli-Kohli” chants from the predominantly pro-India crowd.
Sharma set the tone with his second century of the tournament, sharing partnerships of 136 with KL Rahul (57) for the first wicket and 98 with Kohli.
He seemed ready to really unleash when he needlessly paddled a ball from Hasan Ali to Wahab Riaz at short fine leg in the 38th over.
Sharma attributed his run of form to the emotional high following the birth of a baby daughter.
“It’s just the space I’m in right now _ it’s a very good phase in my life,” he said. “I’m enjoying my cricket (and) coming off a great IPL campaign.”
Kohli continued, becoming the third Indian batter to pass 11,000 ODI runs. In doing so in his 222nd innings, he became the fastest to reach the milestone.
Kohli was on 71 and India was 305-4 when rain stopped play for the first time in the 47th over. The India captain was caught behind off Mohammad Amir’s bowling not long after he returned from the 55-minute rain break and, surprisingly, walked off before umpire Marais Erasmus had a chance to signal him out.
There was some speculation Kohli didn’t edge the ball but it was inconsequential in the end, as India passed Sri Lanka’s 318-7 against England in 2006 to set the highest ODI total in Manchester.
After a batting onslaught at the top, Pakistan pegged back the run-rate slightly as Amir (3-47) dismissed Pandya (26) and then had MS Dhoni (1) and Kohli caught behind _ both the ex-captain and captain walking.
Things started going haywire for Pakistan after skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and fielded, going against the advice sent via social media by Prime Minister and 1992 World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan.
Overcast and cool overhead conditions that usually would favour swing and seam bowling didn’t greatly assist the Pakistan attack, with India racing to 52-0 in its most productive opening power play of the tournament.
The Pakistan pacemen had trouble with the umpires, with Amir and Wahab each cautioned twice for running on the protected area in the middle of the pitch. One further warning would have resulted in a suspension.
It also didn’t help that opener Imam-ul-Haq got out in rare circumstances to Vijay Shankar’s very first delivery at a World Cup _ it coming on the fifth ball of Pakistan’s fifth over after Shankar was asked to finish it off for injured teammate Bhuveshwar Kumar.
Sarfaraz said India was better recently at handling the high-pressure situations, and Pakistan wasn’t performing with bat, ball or in the field.
Pakistan’s next game is at Lord’s against South Africa, which also has three points and only remote prospects of reaching the semifinals.