Ahmedabad, October 14: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front with a sublime half-century after a sensational bowling display by the bowlers as India extended their World Cup win record to 8-0 with a crushing seven-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in a highly-anticipated clash of 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday.
The biggest clash of the tournament comes to an end with the hosts India easily winning this match in 31 overs.
With the toss favouring India, they opted to bowl first here considering the dew factor. After the two openers were sent back to the pavilion, the 82-run partnership between Babar Azam (50 off 58) and Mohammad Rizwan (29 off 69) was threatening until Siraj and Bumrah bowled them over.
Then wickets started falling one by one in close intervals. It was a complete bowling performance as Bumrah, Siraj, Hardik, Jadeja & Kuldeep each picked two wickets to all out the opponents for 191 runs in 42.5 overs.
In the second innings, the openers started off aggressively with Rohit (86 off 63) scoring his half-century! Shreyas Iyer (53* off 62) then finished the match off in style!
Jasprit Bumrah is the Player of the Match.
Jasprit Bumrah said, “It felt good. We realized the wicket was on the slower side so we wanted to bowl hard lengths. We were trying to make it as difficult as possible. I like to read the wickets and try a lot of options. I count my slower ball as a spinner’s slower ball, one of those days where it came off. There was a little phase in there where there was reverse swing, so got Shadab’s wicket.”
Babar Azam, Pakistan Skipper ssid, “We started well with the bat. Good partnership there. We just planned to play normally and build partnerships. There was a sudden collapse and we could not finish well. The total was not good. We were not up to the mark with the new ball. Rohit played an outstanding innings. We just tried to take wickets, but that didn’t happen.”
Rohit Sharma, Indian Skipper said, “The bowlers set the game up for us. I don’t think it was a 190 pitch as we were looking at 280. Whoever gets the ball does the job and that is something we pride ourselves in.
“My job as a captain is important there as well. Have to read the conditions and figure out who’s the right guy to do the job. We were very clear about what we wanted to do. All in all, it’s looking good. Want to keep my fingers crossed. Want to stay balanced. You have to play well on that particular day, and that’s what we’re looking at,” added Sharma.
