Rohit ton guides India to seventh straight WC win over Pakistan

Rohit Sharma scored another silky century to lead India to an easy 89-run win over arch-rivals Pakistan during their ICC World Cup group stage match in Manchester on Sunday. It was always going to tough for Pakistan given their World Cup record against India which read six losses and zero wins and this loss further added to their woes.

1st Innings

After losing the toss and being put on to bat by Pakistan, India once again got off to a very solid start. KL Rahul was promoted up the order with Shikhar Dhawan out injured and he formed a solid 136-run partnership.

Wahab Riaz finally got the wicket of Rahul who scored a steady 57 off 78 but his departure only brought the best batsman in world cricket - Virat Kohli - to the middle. Kohli and Sharma then put up a 98-run stand as Sharma scored a majestic 140 off just 113 deliveries.

The right-handed opener looked dead set on scoring a big innings but he tried to scoop a slower ball from Hasan Ali and the lack of pace had him caught at short fine leg by Riaz. The 32-year-old’s 24th ODI century included 14 boundaries and three six and was a pure batting masterclass and it earned him the man-of-the-match award.

Kohli kept his innings going on the other end, becoming the fastest to reach 11 thousand ODI runs off just 222 innings as wickets fell at the other end. The Indian captain scored 77 off 65 balls but he ensured India had scored in excess of 300.

The Pakistani bowlers, especially Mohammad Amir - with figures of 3/47 off ten overs - tried his best to tame the flow of runs as what looked to be a 350-plus total eventually ended on 336/5, a formidable total nonetheless.

2nd Innings

Pakistan lost Imam-ul-Haq early to the bowling of Vijay Shankar, who came in place of the injured Dhawan but then Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam counter-attacked. They looked well set to challenge and keep the chase on track.

But as has been the case in recent times, they lost a wicket - that of Babar Azam for 48 - and then they lost four more wickets to completely lose their way.

Fakhar Zaman tried to sweep Kuldeep Yadav but top-edged to Yuzvendra for 62. Mohammad Hafeez then flicked a Hardik Pandya delivery straight to deep-square leg Shakar for nine and in the very next delivery, Shoaib Malik was bowled by Pandya for a golden duck.

Captain Sarfaraz Ahmed was the last to be dismissed, played-on by an innocuous Shankar delivery and Pakistan had collapsed from 117/1 to 165/6 before rain arrived.

The match then started to lose overs and was reduced to 40 overs with Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (D/L/S) method giving Pakistan a target of 302. That meant they had to score 136 off 30 balls and that had pretty much sealed the result for Pakistan as they scored 212/6 in 40 overs.

Points Table

The win takes India to seven points from four games and keeps them unbeaten as they climb to third spot, just behind Australia and New Zealand who are on eight and seven points respectively.

The loss keeps Pakistan stuck at ninth spot with just three points from five games and they will have to win all of their remaining games to stand a chance of qualifying in the semis.

Key Stats

Rohit Sharma climbs up to second spot with 319 runs, just behind Aaron Finch in the list of top run-scorers this World Cup. Finch though has played one more match than Sharma with 343 runs.

Pakistan’s one positive of the day may be the bowling of Mohammad Amir who is joint-top in the wicket-takers list with 13 wickets, level with Australia’s Mitchell Starc. They are followed by Pat Cummins who has 11 wickets.