HIGHLIGHTS -- ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 -- India make it 7 out of 7 against arch rivals Pakistan
INDIA SCORED A VICTORY OF immense significance over arch-rivals Pakistan at Old Trafford.
Amidst concerns of rain playing spoilsport, the match saw 90 overs of action despite delays and stops-and-starts. By the time the umpires finally called it a night, India had convincingly won the contest by 89 runs via DLS method.
Put to bat first by Pakistan, India got off to a bright start, with the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, who had never opened in ODIs before, proved to be a smash hit in their first appearance. After a slow but steady start anchored by KL Rahul's display of patience (57 off 78 balls), India saw off the early threats from Mohammad Amir and steadily built towards a big total. Rohit Sharma kept the scoreboard ticking, before turning destructive mid-innings, gathering 140 runs off 113 balls in a memorable show of controlled destruction.
Coming in at no. 3, captain Virat Kohli provided the perfect platform to lead India to a high total with his 77 off 65 balls. Towards the end, the situation called for heavy hitting to maximise the total, which led to back to back wickets falling. Amir (3/47) was the most successful of Pakistani bowlers, but others gave away big runs and India reached a formidable total of 336/5 in 50 overs.
Pakistan came to bat and after losing Imam Ul-Haq early, put together their best chasing partnership against India yet. Babar Azam (48 off 57) and Fakhar Zaman (62 off 75) took Pakistan to a good total halfway into the innings which made it seem like they had a good hope of turning up the heat in latter overs and chasing down the total. But a destructive spell from Kuldeep Yadav (2/32 from 9 overs) saw both set batsmen depart within two overs, and Pakistan's innings never recovered.
From here it was a matter of regular wickets being claimed by India, and Pakistan's middle order collapsing. Vijay Shankar (2/22 off 5.2 overs) and Hardik Panya (2/44 off 8 overs) did their job well and even a late burst from Imad Wasim (46 not out off 39 balls) did not provide much hope for Pakistan to have a shot at winning this.
Rain finally put a stop to the match when after 40 minutes Pakistan were at 212/6, well behind the PAR score of 301 mandated by the DLS method. India were declared victors, marking 7 wins out of 7 against their arch rivals in ICC Cricket World Cup history.
Watch the highlights of the match right here courtesy the International Cricket Council.
