Emotions, passion and pride - a lot was at stake as India took on Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 but it turned out to be a rather one-sided affair as the Men in Blue extended their dominance to 8-0 over the arch-rivals in the tournament on Saturday, October 14 in Ahmedabad. After choosing to bowl first, Team India was under pressure when Pakistan were 155/2 going into the final 20 overs as a 300-plus score was on the cards but what followed was an abomination as the Men in Green were bowled out for 191 in 42.5 overs.
192 was never going to be a challenging total for India to chase unless Pakistan did an Australia, taking early wickets. But in the form that skipper Rohit Sharma is in, he looked like he was in a hurry as he came out all guns blazing. Not just Rohit, all the batters apart from KL Rahul batted in the same vein, looking to finish the match early. Rohit smashed a 63-ball 86 while Shreyas Iyer followed up the captain's innings with an unbeaten 53 as India chased down 192 runs in just 30.3 overs.
The total was less, so Pakistan had only one way of making a match out of it but Rohit blunted their attack with aggressive batting. After Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli got out, the run rate didn't get down and it led to Pakistan pacers' frustration, Haris Rauf, in particular.
Coming in at number 4 when the score was already 80 in 10 overs, Iyer took a few balls to get his eye in. After playing a few dots, it riled up Haris after Iyer played it back to him and the pacer took the ball and threw it back at the Indian batter. Thankfully, no damage was done but the crowd's reaction summed up the match situation as India were all over Pakistan like a rash and they only had their aggression to show.
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This was India's third win and they are currently at the top of the points table with six points and an NRR of +1.82.
