Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma power India to yet another World Cup victory over Pakistan
India now possess an 8-0 head-to-head record against Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup.
The India vs Pakistan contest was the most anticipated group stage encounter of the entire Cricket World Cup. After all, the shared history and heritage as well as the political undercurrents provide the rivalry with a flavour of personality that is nowhere else to be found in world cricket.
At the World Cup stage, though, it is a game that always promises but hardly delivers. That was the case once again on Saturday where the mega-contest arrived and flew by in the blink of an eye with only one side doing all the talking with the bat as well as the ball.
100,000 people had gathered at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and they’d been treated to a special pre-match ceremony as well, helmed by Arijit Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan. Even though the game that succeeded the most hotly contested ticket sale of the entire group stage got wrapped up by 8PM, they got what they really wanted to see: India crushing Pakistan on the biggest stage once again.
Having won the toss, India opted to bowl first. This was expected as it has often been the mantra of India’s consistent success over Pakistan at World Cups. Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haque batted with calm and caution early on and dealt with the challenges that Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj offered their way.
However, when both fell by the 13th over, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan arrived and steadied the ship all over again. Babar is the number 1 ranked ODI batter in the world while Rizwan had scored a match-winning century to power Pakistan to the highest chase in a World Cup match against Sri Lanka in just the previous game.
Therefore, when these two joined hands and forged a strong partnership at the crease, it looked like a difficult proposition for India to overcome. They’d handled the pace bowlers well and even plundered runs off expensive overs. Although the introduction of spin with Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja did manage to slow things down, Pakistan were starting to assume a position of dominance.
With the scoreboard at 155/2, Mohammed Siraj managed to light up the blue touchpaper in Ahmedabad. He had been expensive previously but having knocked the off stump of the Pakistan captain who had just scored his half-century, he propelled the Indian bowlers’ self-belief.
That dismissal triggered a sight that is all too familiar - a nerve-wracking Pakistani batting collapse. ‘It’s happening again’ feared some of the supporters when Rizwan got cleaned up Jasprit Bumrah with one run short of a half-century. Iftikhar Ahmed had already come and gone by then.
The fact is that it was happening all too quickly.
Shadab Khan was the next to fall with Bumrah knocking back his off stump with a masterful delivery and Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja had cleaned up the rest. Pakistan had gone from a position to score 280+ to losing eight wickets inside just 36 runs and folding for 131 runs.
Five Indian bowlers shared two wickets each amongst them equally and what could’ve been a promising run-chase became a matter of formality.
Rohit Sharma arrived to the crease on the back of his delightful pyrotechnics against Afghanistan while Shubman Gill had recovered from a spell of dengue. The pair struck five boundaries inside the first two overs to rub salt into Pakistan’s wounds but a loose shot from Gill saw him losing his wicket after a promising early display.
Rohit carried on the carnage and Kohli played the role of the anchor, just like the duo had done against Afghanistan. The Indian captain completed yet another sensational half-century (in 36 balls) and although Kohli’s stay at the crease didn’t last long, losing his wicket to Hasan Ali, India were in no danger at all.
With Shreyas Iyer now holding the fort at the other end, Rohit treated the bowling with plenty of disdain. When in this kind of form, there are few players in world cricket who are as delightful to watch as the Indian captain. There’s no doubt that the team will be really delighted with his form in the initial stages of the World Cup after poor showings in recent years.
Ahmedabad expected another century from Rohit but this time, the crowd would be left disappointed as he miscued a shot off Afridi and got caught at midwicket after scoring 86 off 63. KL Rahul arrived and he ensured that there would be no further dismissals as India got to the finish line with Iyer also scoring his 15th ODI half-century.
India are now on top of the table in the World Cup and have racked up three wins off three matches.
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