It is not possible to write history. Pakistan lost to India again in the World Cup. Rohit Sharma’s 86 and Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 53 helped India reach the target of 192 runs given by Pakistan with the loss of just three wickets. As a result, India left the field with a huge victory against Pakistan by seven wickets.
When facing India in the World Cup, Pakistan seems to lose its rhythm. From 1992 to 2023, Pakistan faced eight times in the World Cup but never won. After seeing the recent performance of Babar-Rizwan, everyone thought that Pakistan will create history by defeating India in the World Cup. But it is the opposite. Instead of Pakistan, India lost to Pakistan for the eighth time.
Pakistan won big in their first two matches in the current World Cup. Pakistan, who are in great rhythm, lost the toss and went into bat against India and got off to a good start. Babar-Rizwan led the team after 2 wickets for 73 runs. Relying on this pair, Pakistan went on to a big collection. But after Babar’s departure for 155 runs, this pair broke. After that, Pakistan’s batting line-up started collapsing like a house of cards. As a result, Pakistan was able to score 191 runs after losing all the wickets in 42 overs. India needed 192 runs to win.
Thanks to Rohit Sharma’s 63 runs and Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 53 runs at the end, India reached the target of 192 runs given by Pakistan with the loss of just three wickets with 117 balls remaining. Kohli left the field with a seven-wicket win against Pakistan.
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill opened for India today. Gill, who recovered and returned to the eleven, could not take his innings far today.
He returned to Shaheen Afridi after scoring 16 runs off 11 balls. India broke the opening pair for 34 runs in their departure. After Gill’s departure, Rohit Sharma paired with Virat Kohli. He started harassing Pakistan’s bowlers. Kohli continued to give him worthy company.
But Kohli returned to the pavilion after being the victim of Hasan Ali for the team’s 79 runs. He returned with 16 runs off 18 balls.
After Virat’s departure, Rohit teamed up with Shreyas Iyer. In between, he picked up a personal half century. He scored 50 runs in just 36 balls. Which includes three fours and four sixes.
After picking up a half-century, Rohit Sharma was slowly moving towards victory with Shreyas Iyer. But Rohit went back to become Shaheen Afridi’s second victim for the team’s 156 runs.
He scored 86 runs off 63 balls. After his departure, Shreyas Iyer left the field with Lokesh Rahul winning. Today he also picked up a personal half-century. He scored 50 off 62 balls. Aries remained unbeaten on 53 runs. And Lokesh Rahul remains unbeaten with 19 runs off 29 balls.
Earlier, Abdullah Shafiq and Imam-ul-Haq opened for Pakistan today. From the start these two openers played cautiously. He was not giving any chance to the Indian bowlers.
Finally Mohammad Siraj broke this pair. Abdallah Shafiq, the centurion of the previous match, returned as a victim of LBW off Mohammad Siraj. He returned with 24 runs off 20 balls. Pakistan’s opening pair broke for 41 runs on his departure.
After Shafiq’s dismissal for 41 runs, Imam paired with Babar Azam. These two were playing by sight. But when Hardik Pandya fell victim to 36 runs off 38 balls, this pair was broken. As a result, Pakistan lost two wickets for 73 runs.
Then Babar Azam paired with Mohammad Rizwan. In between, Babar picked up a personal half-century. He scored 57 runs off 57 balls. Which includes hitting 7 fours.
But after picking up his half-century, he could not take his innings further. He was bowled by Mohammad Siraj.
He scored 50 runs off 58 balls before returning to the dressing room. The Babar-Rizwan duo went on his farewell. Babar-Rizwan duo broke and Pakistan could not turn around.
Mohammad Rizwan kept one end after Rizwan’s departure. At the other end, there was a procession of batters coming and going.
Saud Shakeel returned to the team’s 162 runs after Babar Azam’s dismissal for 155 runs. He scored 6 runs off 10 balls.
After his departure, Iftikhar Ahmed returned for Kuldeep Yadav’s second victim in the same over. He scored 4 runs off 4 balls.
Rizwan returned with 49 runs after Iftikhar’s departure. He did not get a half century for one run. He did not score 49 runs off 69 balls.
After Rizwan, Shadab Khan could not stay at the crease for long. He fell victim to Bumrah with 2 runs off 5 balls. On his departure, Pakistan lost 7 wickets for 171 runs.
After losing 7 wickets for 171 runs, Pakistan could not advance further. In the end, Pakistan’s innings stopped at 191 runs after losing all wickets after playing 42 overs.
Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets each for India.
(October 14/NBW)