Ahmedabad: A fortnight back, India hammered Pakistan 10-2 in the Asian Games hockey competition. On Saturday, the men in blue thrashed the green shirts by 7 wickets to make it 8-0 in ODI World Cup head-to-head clashes.
Pakistan were very much in the game at 155/2 in the 31st over after Indian skipper Rohit Sharma asked them to bat first. But following the dismissal of captain Babar Azam for 50, it all went downhill for Pakistan as they quickly disintegrated in the face of some skilful Indian bowling to be all out for just 191 in 42.3 overs.
All the bowlers did their job, but it was Jasprit Bumrah (2/19 in 7 overs) who once again stood out with his tight control and wicket-taking skills.
Rohit and comeback man Shubman Gill made their intentions clear with a flurry of boundaries in the first three overs. Gill fell for 16 but the captain entertained the one-lakh strong crowd at the gigantic Narendra Modi Stadium with typically elegant and effortless strokeplay.
The Hitman followed up his 131 in the previous match against Afghanistan with a dazzling 86 off 63 balls, which included 6 fours and 6 sixes. The man who three days ago became the highest six-hitter in international cricket on Saturday struck 300 overboundaries in ODI cricket.
Virat Kohli missed out on a third consecutive fifty, but Shreyas Iyer helped himself to a flawless unbeaten half-century.
Brief scores: Pakistan 191 in 42.3 overs (Babar Azam 50, Mohammad Rizwan 49; Jasprit Bumrah 2/19, Hardik Pandya 2/34, Kuldeep Yadav 2/35, Ravindra Jadeja 2/38, Md Siraj 2/50). India 192/3 in 30.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 86, Shreyas Iyer 53*; Shaheen Shah Afridi 2/36).
Result: India won by 7 wickets
Man of the Match: Jasprit Bumrah
Points: India 6 pts, Pakistan 4 pts
India‘s next match: Oct. 19 vs Bangladesh (Pune)
Pakistan’s next match: Oct 20 vs Australia (Bengaluru).
