India-Pakistan clashes are arguably world cricket’s most exciting rivalries – unfortunately we have seen rather too few of them in recent times. So when the two old foes faced off in ODI No 22 of the ongoing cricket world cup, the match attracted record viewership. After India's last outing (against New Zealand) was a washout, Indian fans were particularly keen on watching the men in blue take on the Pakistani team.
Points table so far
Australia has played the most matches so far and is on the top with 8 points (including one loss). New Zealand and India each have played four matches so far, earned 7 points each and have remained undefeated. Afghanistan is the only team to have won no matches so far; languishing right at the bottom.
16 June, Sunday also featured another match – Afghanistan vs South Africa, but no one really noticed. It was a lackluster, low scoring one sided match and South Africa finally managed to win one.
The Pakistan captain opted to field rather than bat first. This was inexplicable to many since there is usually pressure on the chasing side.
Even former captain and current PM of Pakistan, Imran Khan had advised against this.
During the match, skipper Virat Kohli became the fastest player to reach 11,000 runs, breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record by reaching the milestone in just 222 innings.
Kohli had made 77 off 65 when there was a strenuous appeal for caught-behind by the Pak players. The umpire did not seem very interested, but Kohli walked. The cameras and the ‘snick-o-metre showed no contact of bat and ball, but Kohli clearly thought he was out. Why he walked remains a mystery.
Pak skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed was seen yawning on the field as he went about his job behind the stumps.
The players had to go off the field and the covers came on as rain interrupted play. It seemed to upset India’s momentum a bit; at one point it seemed that the men in blue would rack up a far bigger score than the 336 that they did.
Opening for India, Sharma took his time getting to his half century after which he cut loose; piling up 140 runs in 113 balls and getting the Player of the Match award for his efforts.
It was a less than impressive stint with the bat (15 runs off 15 balls) – at a time when the batsmen should have been scoring much faster. However the first ball Vijay Shankar bowled claimed a wicket.
Shankar went on to take one more wicket and also took a catch in his first ever world cup match; earning himself a lot of fans in the bargain.
Shoaib Malik is like a brother in law – considering he is married to our very own Sania Mirza.
Rain interrupted again and ultimately the match was decided by the DLS method and India won by 89 runs.
Pakistan has never, ever managed to beat India in a World Cup match.
Seven India-Pak matches in the World Cup, 7 victories for India.
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