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.
Even as the fans rejoiced the Indian win the skipper said he won't get carried away.
"All in all, it's looking good. I want to keep my fingers crossed, and don't want to get too excited. I don't want to get too low as well. We want to stay balanced, keep calm and keep moving forward," he said after the match.
"Every opposition we come up against is all quality. You have to play well on that particular day, and that's what we're looking at."
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.
India vs Pakistan World Cup tie: As it happened at Motera
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.
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Skipper Rohit Sharma's decision to bowl first after winning the toss might have raised a few eyebrows but the Indian team always had things under control despite a 72-run third wicket stand between skipper Babar Azam (50 off 58 balls) and Mohammed Rizwan (49 off 69 balls).
It was a matter of one wicket and once Siraj (2/50) got one to just move in a shade from a shorter length, the Pakistan skipper misjudged it completely and remained rooted to his crease trying to steer it to third man.
The sound of timber was what 100,000 at Motera wanted to hear.
Rizwan, on the cusp of his fifty got a wobbly seam slow off-cutter from Bumrah (2/19 in 7 overs), that entered through the gap between bat and pad as Pakistan's resistance ended at that moment.
While Pakistan openers Abdullah Shafique (20) and Imam ul Haque (36) had started off well with 41 on the board, Siraj kept one on three-quarter length and got that to dart in, catching the former plumb in front.
Hardik Pandya, who is playing as third seamer, did get hit for a few boundaries as he bowled short initially before he pitched one up to induce a thick outside edge from Imam.
Babar and Rizwan had a partnership going but if one looks at how the ODI landscape has changed, they were well behind par during the stand.
They scored at five runs per over but the bowling unit did not face the kind of pressure expected against two top-class players.
- With inputs from PTI