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Jasprit Bumrah led from the front as he helped India register their eighth World Cup win over Pakistan and go to the top of the points table at its 2023 edition.
In a match played in front of over a 100,000 fans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India chased down 191 in a little over 30 overs to claim full points over Pakistan.
Things could have been a lot different for India as Pakistan looked to surmounted the slow pitch threat after reaching 155 for two in the 30th over of their innings.
Captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, their centurion from the previous game against Sri Lanka, got together at 73 for two and picked off the Indian bowlers with relative ease.
The pair added 82 for the third wicket, need 103 balls to do that, but once Mohammad Siraj had managed to dislodge Azam, things took a drastic u-turn.
India continue their unbeaten run against Pakistan in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup with an emphatic win in Ahmedabad 👊#CWC23 | #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/OG4EgMkPg4
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) October 14, 2023
Kuldeep Yadav chipped in two wickets in the same over to break the Pakistani middle and once Bumrah came back to send down his fastish off-spinners and reverse swinging deliveries, there was no looking back for India.
Bumrah sent back Rizwan as Pakistan lost their last eight wickets for a mere 36 runs. It was the kind of collapse that made the official broadcaster commentator Dinesh Karthik quip, “Pakistan doing Pakistan things”.
Pakistan needed early wickets to find a way back into the game and they did get past Shubham Gill as early as in the third over.
Captain Rohit, however, chose to take the Pakistan attack on heads on as he thumped six sixes and six fours in his knock of 86. What also stood out in his innings was his desire to take the bowling on early, not allowing them to settle down at all.
With the Pakistan captain running out of ideas, Hasan Ali managed to stem the flow for a bit with the wicket of Virat Kohli but there was no stopping Rohit.
He followed his century against Afghanistan with another near-one in this age-old battle against arch-rivals and broke the Pakistani spirit very early in the chase.
Bumrah was declared the man-of-the-match for his fine spell of two for 19 from the seven overs he bowled.
England play Afghanistan in the 13th game of the 2023 World Cup on Sunday.
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