India blow away Pakistan to make it 8-0 in the history of ODI World Cups

It was another cakewalk for the Men in Blue as they blew away their arch-rivals, Pakistan, convincingly, thanks to an all-round display. With their third win on the trot in World Cup 2023, Team India surged to the top of the points table, breezing past New Zealand and South Africa.

Ahead of the clash against Pakistan, India introduced one change to the side that saw them bringing in Shubman Gill in place of Ishan Kishan. Pakistan entered the big game unchanged.

On winning the toss, India opted to bowl first and their bowlers had to toil hard early on as the two Pakistani openers looked in decent control. Abdullah Shafique (20) and Imam-ul-Haq (36) navigated the early threat posed by Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in fine fashion until Miyan’s cross-seam delivery removed Shafique.

However, the fall of Shafique brought to the crease Babar Azam, who shirked off the early jitters of the tournament, starting to take control of the innings. Just when it felt that Pakistan were looking to change gears, Hardik Pandya threw a spanner in the works with the prized scalp of Imam, who edged the ball to KL Rahul.

However, Pakistan didn’t really seem fazed with the departure of their two openers. An incoming Mohammad Rizwan did well to soothe the frayed nerves in the dugout and once again it was the iconic pair of Rizwan and Babar that started sparking deja-vu of that infamous Indian defeat in the T20 World Cup in 2021.

With Babar reaching his 50, the Men in Green seemed well poised to go past 300. That is when Rohit Sharma handed over the ball to Siraj and despite being belted for a few runs, Miyan came back strongly with an absolute ripper that kept low and sneaked past Babar’s outside edge to clip his off-pole, sending him back to a rapturous applause from the fans.

Saud Shakeel would have been a first-ball goner had Siraj hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end with a throw but he didn’t last long as Kuldeep Yadav trapped the southpaw in front of the stumps for a paltry six.

Dangerman Iftikhar Ahmed (4) was the victim for Kuldeep, as the batter gloved a ball from outside leg stump onto his stumps, leaving him gobsmacked at the manner of the dismissal. Rizwan’s well-orchestrated knock of 49 would also come to an abrupt halt as Jasprit Bumrah returned to his scariest avatar to produce a superb off-cutter that nipped back in sharply to dislodge the Pakistani wicket-keeper’s timbre.

The collapse turned into a swirling vortex of entropy for the Men in Green as Shadab Khan (2) too fell to Bumrah’s dead ringer of a delivery that beat the bat to clip the top of off-stump. Hardik Pandya returned later to open up the doors of decimation with the scalp of Mohammad Nawaz (4) while Ravindra Jadeja removed Hasan Ali (12) and Haris Rauf (2) to put an end to Pakistan’s innings for a modest 191.

The Indian batters were off to work straight away as both Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill were off the mark with a boundary on their very first ball against the Shaheen Shah Afridi. The Indian juggernaut started cruising early on with Rohit once again in menacing touch.

Despite Shubman Gill (16) looking good early on, he was undone by a bit of misfortune as a brilliant square cut landed straight into the hands of Shadab Khan at point. Virat Kohli’s arrival in the center was greeted by a massive frenzy of rapture and the King didn’t really disappoint.

However, the man of the show for India was Rohit Sharma who was relentless and kept on going after the Pakistani bowling unit mercilessly. From Afridi to Nawaz, Pakistan’s bowlers were being shredded to smithereens, thanks to the Indian skipper’s carnage.

Rohit and Kohli (16) knitted together a 56 run-stand for the second wicket, before the latter’s shot went only as far as to Nawaz at mid-on. However, Kohli’s wicket did very little to deter the Indian spirits as Shreyas Iyer plugged the deficit comprehensively while Rohit’s slaughter was the predominant theme of the innings.

The Indian captain fell for a blistering 86 from 63 balls, a knock laced with six sixes and six fours as he failed to pick a cutter from Afridi, with the ball going off the toe end of the bat and straight to Iftikhar Ahmed. With 38 runs to win the game when Rohit departed, Iyer took on the role of the aggressor with Rahul for company.

Iyer stayed unbeaten for a 62-ball-53 while Rahul anchored the innings at the other end with a 29-ball 19 as India crossed the finish line with more than 19 overs and seven wickets to spare. Bumrah was awarded the Player of the Match for his incredible spell and the couple of wickets that had a massive influence on restricting Pakistan’s total on the board.