India 319 – 3 in 48 Overs
Target 289 Runs
Pakistan 164 in 33.4 Overs
India win by 124 runs (D/L method)
India excelled in all departments and convincingly beat Pakistan. The batsmen dominated the show and scored a massive total of 319 for 3 wickets with the four top line batsmen scoring half-centuries.
In contrast the Pakistan team was weak in controlling the runs in the ending overs, dropped two vital catches and the batting crumbled with only Azhar reaching a 50.
Pakistan had won the toss and selected to field as India with a strong batting line-up was strong in chasing runs. In the first 10 power-play overs the Pakistan bowlers Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim gave away only 46 runs. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma’s play was troubled due to the two rain interruptions. Finally Shadab Khan got the first wicket by dismissing Shikhar Dhawan on 68 with a full toss.
The real build up to the runs total was provided by Virat Kohli who remained 81 not out and Yuvraj Singh with 53 with both adding 93 runs off 59 balls. Both got a life chance due to floppy fielding by Pakistan fielders – Yuvraj was dropped by Hasan Ali when he had scored only 8 runs, while Kohli was let off by substitute Fahim when on 43. The result being that in the ending overs both slammed the bowlers, scoring 72 in the last four overs. After Yuvraj was out, Hardik Pandya continued the run machine and lofted three sixes in Imad Wasim’s last over.
Pakistan under the Duck-worth Lewis method, in order to constitute a match had to reach 103 without loss in the 20 overs. The rain again interrupted and the target was revised from 324 in 48 to 289 in 41.
With the Pakistan batting line-up not showing any sign of confidence, after a while the match proved beyond their reach with Indian pace attackers – Unesh Yadav (3-30), Hardik Pandya (2-43), Ravindra Jadeja (2-48) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1-23) having bowled excellently and containing Pakistan to 164 runs.
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