India Thrash Pakistan By 124 Runs; Yuvi Man Of The Match:- In their first game of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, India beat Pakistan by 124 runs by the Duckworth/Lewis System (D/L) at Edgbaston, Birmingham, England.
The whole stadium sung the National Anthem, with the two teams. Emotions were running high and the voices resonated through Edgbaston.
To give India a flying start, after being asked to bat, Rohit Sharma and Shikar Dhawan hit half-centuries. From where both the openers left, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh continued to play and powered the defending champions to 319/3.
In reply, Umesh Yadav and Co. struck at regular intervals as Pak’s Captain Sarfraz Ahmed’s men got bundled out for 164.
The big news that was coming out from the toss was that R Ashwin and Mohammed Shami were not in the squad for India. Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja were the two all-rounders to be in the team.
Mohammed Amir was working up with good pace and with the wind blowing right across the ground, he was getting the ball to move away from the right hander. Rohit Sharma looked completely out of depth in the first over.
Sharma and Shikar Dhawan, played cautiously early on and added 46 in the first ten overs. The duo looked to regularly rotate the strike and cashed in on anything loose. Dhawan broke the shackles in the 20th over and clubbed Wahab Riaz for three fours to notch up his 50 off 47 balls. He then launched Shadab Khan for a six in the next over. Dhawan finally fell in the 25th over for a 65-ball 68. Sharma stood at 64 at that stage.
The Sharma-Dhawan combine scored at a brisk 5.55 runs in the 24.3 overs that they batted together. Dhawan, with six fours and one six, contributed 64 to the partnership. Sharma eventually fell nine runs short of a memorable ton. Pakistan limped to just 164 in reply to a commanding India total.
The biggest factor that pleased Kohli though was the clean hitting of Yuvraj Singh, who smashed a 32-ball 53, when India were looking to up the ante in between several rain-breaks. “I was struggling for rhythm in the middle overs,” admitted Yuvi.
On June 8, Virat Kohli-led India will now face Sri Lanka, while Pakistan will be up against South Africa on June 7.
Playing for India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah
Playing for Pak: Azhar Ali, Ahmed Shehzad, Babar Azam, Mohammed Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shadav Khan, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali
India Vs Pakistan
319/3 (48) 164/9 (33.4)
SCORE CARD:
SUPRAJA
