Captain Rohit Sharma led from the front as India made the much-anticipated ICC ODI World Cup 2023 match against Pakistan a one-sided affair on Saturday. Having bowled out Babar Azam-led Pakistan for just 191 in a batting-friendly pitch, Rohit Sharma’s swashbuckling 86 off 63 ensured that India reached the target with 19.3 overs to spare despite losing Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli early.
The win was India’s eighth triumph over Pakistan in the showpiece event. The Green Shirts are yet to taste victory over their archrivals in the quadrennial event. Both Kohli and Gill fell for 16 to Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi respectively but Rohit kept going.
It was Shubman Gill’s maiden World Cup match after having recovered from sickness. Rohit Sharma’s whirlwind innings had six boundaries and six maximums. He was finally caught by Iftikhar Ahmed off Afridi in the 21st over. By that time, the faith of the game was sealed.
KL Rahul (19) and Shreyas Iyer (53) remained unbeaten as India crossed the target.Earlier, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah hoodwinked the Pakistan batters with semi-old ball and a bagful of tricks as India restricted the arch-rivals to a lowly 191 in 42.5 overs.
This is Pakistan’s second-lowest score against India in ODI World Cup after 180 all-out back in 1999. The two new ball bowlers made the semi-new ball talk by altering the length and using the wobbly seam to run through a circumspect middle-order and put India on course of their eighth victory in ODI World Cups.
Kuldeep Yadav’s (2/35) role as the supporting protagonist was also laudable as he did his bit in removing Saud Shakeel (6) and Iftikhar Ahmed (4) in quick succession to hasten the slide.
