India leads with six points — ahead of New Zealand on net run-rate — after three straight wins. Pakistan, after its first loss of the tournament, has four points from three games and is fourth in the points table.
Chasing 192, fit-again Shubman Gill set a hectic pace as he struck four boundaries to score 16 off 11 balls. His timing was impeccable before Shaheen Afridi (2-36) cut short his comeback innings, and he was caught at backward point.
Sharma and Virat Kohli then added 56 off 42 balls for the second wicket. They didn’t offer any chances for Pakistan to make the game interesting.
Kohli was out against the run of play — a false pull shot off Hasan Ali caught at mid-on in the 10th over.
Sharma added 77 off 71 balls with Shreyas Iyer for the third wicket, as India reached 100 in only 13.5 overs.
The Indian skipper fell 14 short of an eighth World Cup hundred — caught at midwicket off a slower delivery from Afridi. Iyer and Lokesh Rahul (19 not out) didn’t suffer any further hiccups, adding 36 runs for the unbeaten fourth wicket.
Iyer eased his way to 53 not out off 62 balls, including three fours and two sixes, the last of which rang in India’s victory.
Earlier, put into bat, Pakistan got off to a steady start even as the jam-packed stadium full of Indian fans waited for the first breakthrough.
Abdullah Shafique (20) and Imam ul Haq (36) added 41 runs for the first wicket, before Mohammed Siraj provided the breakthrough in the eighth over. He trapped Shafique lbw for 20 runs.
Another 4.3 overs passed before the next wicket came through, while Imam and skipper Babar Azam added 32 runs for the second wicket.
Hardik Pandya had Imam caught behind, which brought Azam and Mohammed Rizwan together. The duo defied Indian bowlers for 103 balls, during which they picked easy boundaries and kept the scorecard ticking.
It was the best passage of play for Pakistan through the day.
Azam-Rizwan put on 82 for the third wicket, which included two DRS reviews involving Rizwan. He appealed against Ravindra Jadeja’s lbw call in the 14th over, and the decision went in his favor. Then, in the 25th over, he was lucky against Yadav as the review stayed not out owing to umpire’s call.
At the other end, Azam hit seven fours as he scored 50 off 58 balls. Then, came the turning point, as Siraj returned to the attack and bowled the Pakistan skipper.
The capacity crowd burst into joy and there was no looking back for India thereafter as Sharma rolled the dice.
He changed ends for Yadav, who choked Pakistan with his wrist spin. In the 33rd over, he trapped Saud Shakeel lbw for six. Four balls later, Ifitkhar Ahmed played a slower delivery onto his stumps.
An over later, Bumrah bowled in some magic. An off-cutter seamed in and bowled Rizwan through the gate, and then eight balls later, Shadab Khan was bowled for two runs.
Rizwan was out for 49 off 69 balls, including seven fours, and his dismissal was the point of no return. Pakistan had lost five wickets for 16 runs in the space of 34 deliveries.
At 171-7, India went in for the kill and the last three wickets fell for 20 runs. Jadeja picked 2-38, while Pandya too finished with 2-34.
In total, Pakistan lost its last eight wickets for 36 runs — a collapse that only spelled defeat.
Political reasons constantly obstruct the teams’ bilateral series. They haven’t met in a test series in 16 years and one-day international and Twenty20 series in 10 years. As recently as last month at the Asia Cup, India refused to go to host Pakistan, so Pakistan accommodated by sharing hosting duties with Sri Lanka.
Pakistan has never beaten India at the Cricket World Cup. Even when Pakistan won its only title in 1992 it lost to India in Sydney. The trend continued in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2011, 2015 and 2019.
