It is 8-0 now. The Ahmedabad clash did not turn out to be a nail-biting affair. It was rather one-sided. Pakistan batters failed as a clinical bowling performance bowled them out for 191. Then skipper Rohit Sharma played a decimating knock of 63-ball 86 followed by Shreyas Iyer’s century to chase down the non-threatening total with 177 balls to spare and seven wickets in hand. The big win helped India dethrone New Zealand from the top of the table with three consecutive wins in the World Cup 2023.
Rohit won the toss and opted to field first. Abdullah Shafique got off the mark with a boundary against Jasprit Bumrah. In the next over, Mohammed Siraj missed the line and was hit for three fours by Imam-ul-Haq. In the eighth over, Siraj trapped him in front of the wickets. Shafique scored 20 runs from 24 balls. Babar stamped authority with two exquisite shots for boundaries against Hardik Pandya. In his next over, Pandya managed to induce an edge off Imam's bat which carried to KL Rahul. The opener scored 36 runs from 38 balls.
Babar and Mohammad Rizwan took their time in the middle overs to play themselves in. Babar and Rizwan hit a few boundaries to keep the run rate from following below five runs per over. Siraj was brought back into the attack and was hit for two fours. But in his next over, he made the ball skid and beat Babar's bat to hit the top of the off stump. He scored 50 runs from 58 balls. Then Kuldeep came in to play. Saud Shakeel was pushed on the back foot. Kuldeep was able to beat the bat. After a wild appeal, umpire Marais Erasmus shook his head. Rohit opted for DRS and it went India's way. In the same over, Iftikhar Ahmed mistimed the sweep shot, the ball hit his glove and flattened the leg stump.
In the next over, Bumrah came back into the attack and an off-cutter got the better of Rizwan. He missed his half-century by just one run. In his next over, Bumrah got the ball to come in sharply and hit the top of the off stump. After Shadab's wicket, Pandya got the better of Nawaz who went for a big shot but caught for a single-digit score. Then Ravindra Jadeja got the wickets of Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf to bowl out Pakistan for 191 from 42.5 overs.
India's run chase got off to an ideal start. Shubman Gill and Rohit hit one boundary each in Shaheen Afridi's first over. Gill then took on Hasan Ali for three fours in an over. In the next over, Afridi got the first wicket. Gill slashed his bat at a short and wide delivery but Shadab Khan took a sharp catch. Returning to the side after recovering from dengue, he scored 16 runs from 11 balls. Rohit took the attacking approach in the powerplay overs. Virat Kohli hit Afridi for two consecutive fours as well. In the ninth over, Rohit hit Haris Rauf for two sixes. He became the third batter after Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle to hit 300 sixes in ODIs.
In the 10th over, Ali was brought back and he took the wicket of Kohli. Mohammad Nawaz took an easy catch at deep mid-on and Kohli's cross-batted shot could not go past the 30-yard circle. He scored 16 runs from 18 balls. Iyer was not troubled early on in the innings. Rohit got to his half-century from just 36 balls. Rohit and Iyer took on spinners Shadab and Nawaz. Afridi was brought back in the attack and he prevented Rohit from scoring his second century of the tournament. The off-cutter got the better of him as Iftikhar took an easy catch. His 63-ball 86 featured six fours and as many sixes. In the end, Iyer and Rahul ensured that no more wickets fell. Rahul batted cautiously as he scored 19 runs from 29 balls. Iyer finished the run chase with a four to reach his half-century. India won the match by seven wickets with 117 balls to spare. Iyer remained unbeaten for 53 off 62 balls including three fours and two sixes.
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