ICC World Cup matches are one of the biggest attractions for sports lovers, added with that, an India-Pakistan clash holds a different form of enthusiasm to the people of the two neighbouring countries as well as to the entire world. When specifically, these two neighbouring countries go on ground against each other, the gallery never stays empty. The complicated international relations have led to the mass attraction when they take on each other on the field, and despite the rising tension both the teams put on their best to most importantly make their countries proud to the world through their game and respecting each other on field.
Similarly, on 16th June, India clashed with their neighbouring state Pakistan on the English grounds, both teams with the hope of advancing in the ongoing ICC World Cup. Despite rain being a concerning point of the big clash, the game started on a dry pitch after Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl first. After losing Shikhar Dhawan as opener for a few matches due to his thumb injury, India prompted no.4 batsmen K.L Rahul to start as an opener. Rahul (57 out; 78b; 3X4, 2X6) along with Rohit Sharma put on a 136 runs partnership after which Wahab Riaz finally manages a breakthrough for Pakistan in the 24th over. However, Rohit Sharma (140 out; 113b; 14X4, 3X6) went on scoring, passing the century mark at ease but succumbs trying to play a scoop shot and fails to notice fielder Babar Azam. Virat Kohli (77 out; 65b; 7X4) took on the mantle from Sharma and kept striking the ball, scoring as much as possible while Hardik Pandya (26 out; 19b; 2X4, 1X6) on the other end was unable to hit ball like he usually does, and pretty soon he too falls under the splendid spell of Mohammed Amir. M.S Dhoni (1 out, 2b), fails to create an impact and departs in Mohammed Amir’s following over. In the Match Virat Kohli surpassed the record of Sachin Tendulkar by posing the fastest 11,000 ODI runs. Rain delays the game for a while, after which though Virat Kohli falls prey to Amir’s spell raising many debates among fans and spectator but India puts 336 runs on board after their 50 overs batting.
The second innings got delayed for some time due to rain once more, after which Pakistan started their batting. Within the 5th over India ran into a complication when Bhuvneshwar Kumar slipped on the rain affected pitch and received a hamstring injury prompting Vijay Shankar to finish his over. It became a dream-come-true situation for Shankar, when in his very first delivery of World Cup he picked up Imam-ul-Haq’s (7 out; 18b; 1X4) wicket. Fakhar Zaman (62 out; 75b; 7X4, 1X6) and Babar Azam (48 out; 57b; 3X4, 1X6) still regained some hope for Pakistan with their partnership, but Pakistani batsmen were clearly finding hard to cope up with the rising run rate and was slowly succumbing to the building pressure. Amidst rain and after Zaman and Azam dismissal within short interval by Kuldeep Yadav’s stunning spin attacks next three batsmen, including captain Sarfaraz Ahmed failed to contribute much consuming too many deliveries and unable to cross past Indian fielding set up fell down shortly. However, rain delays shortened the game by asking Pakistan to score 302 from 40 overs when Pakistan had already scored 166 in 35 overs. The sole batsmen in the Pakistan squad, Imad Wasim came to bat after captain’s dismissal and added 46 runs from 39 deliveries posing a good competition in the rest of the overs left to score a total of 212 losing 6 wickets in 40 overs also losing the innings by 89 runs to India under DLS method.
