Quickfire Yuvraj stars in India’s win over Pakistan
birmingham — India thrashed Pakistan by 124 runs in the archrivals’ Champions Trophy opener at Edgbaston on Sunday.
Pakistan, set a revised target of 289 in 41 overs following three rain interruptions, finished on 164, with injured last man Wahab Riaz unable to bat as India won with 44 balls to spare.
India had previously piled up 319 for three in 48 overs after Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss.
Rohit Sharma top-scored with 91 and put on 136 for the first wicket with Shikhar Dhawan (68).
India captain Virat Kohli made 81 not out, sharing a quickfire third-wicket stand with Yuvraj Singh (53) as Pakistan paid a heavy price for dropping both batsmen.
India plundered 72 runs in their final four overs as Pakistan’s attack wilted. —
India overpowered arch-rivals Pakistan by 124 runs in a rain-marred Group B encounter of the Champions Trophy on Sunday. Asked to bat first, the Indians rode on a power packed performance by the top order to post a challenging total. In an innings affected by rain twice — consequently shortened to 48 overs as against the normal 50 — India posted 319/3.
Further rain interruptions forced the match officials to revise the target to 324 runs off 48 overs according to the the Duckworth Lewis method. The Pakistanis were off to a steady start thanks to openers Azhar Ali and Ahmed Shehzad.
The duo put together an opening stand of 47 runs in nine overs before pacer Buvneshwar Kumar struck the first blow for India by trapping Shehzad leg before. Ali continued to battle on, top scoring for Pakistan with a steady 50 runs off 65 balls before being dismissed. But the rest of the Pakistan batsmen seemed to buckle under pressure and failed to rise to the challenge.
Earlier, India’s top-order batsmen Rohit Sharma (91 runs in 119 balls), skipper Virat Kohli (81 not out), Shikhar Dhawan (68 runs in 65 balls) and Yuvraj Singh (53 runs in 32 balls) were the major contributors to India’s cause.
The defending champions forged the crucial partnerships, played the ball to its merit and post-rain, when it was more difficult to bat with the same concentration, the batsmen applied themselves to the English conditions and displayed temperament.
Apart from the top order, allrounder Hardik Pandya’s (20 runs in six balls) cameo at the end also allowed India post a challenging total. World No.8 Pakistan, on the other hand, were seen struggling throughout the innings. Their fielders dropped several catches and their bowlers bowled poor length which resulted in their now having to chase a huge total.
With India put in to bat, Rohit and Shikhar started on a cautious note as Pakistani pacers were right on the coin in the first hour. And just when both the batsmen seemed to be settling in the middle, rain played the spoilsport. After almost a 40-minute hold-up, with the scoreboard reading 46 runs in 9.5 overs, India regrouped their strategy and started counter-attacking.
Rohit and Dhawan displayed some brilliant shots in order to boost the run rate. In the process, Rohit, who was struggling initially, got to his half-century in the 19th over with a pull-shot that went for a six at the mid-wicket. Soon, in the very next over, Dhawan also brought up his 50 with a fine shot at backward point.
After scoring 110 runs in 20 overs, both batsmen wanted to exploit the batting conditions and some poor fielding from the Paki- stani players. But while doing so, Dhawan was caught at deep mid- wicket by Azhar Ali off Shadab Khan in the 25th over. While trying to go over the top, the Delhi batsman stepped down the crease but failed to make full contact which resulted in a simple catch and hence the 136-run partnership was broken.
The fall of Dhawan’s wicket brought in Kohli, who supported Rohit well at the other end by simply rotating the strike.—