On This Day- Rohit’s century and Kuldeep’s brilliance help India beat Pakistan in 2019 World Cup; make it 7-0

India won the match by a handsome margin of 89 runs via D/L method.

June 16, 2019, was the day when the entire world was glued to their TV sets to watch the big money clash of two giants of world cricket in India and Pakistan in the ICC World Cup that year, being played in England.

The build-up was quite big given the political tensions between the two nations and it was getting to the boiling point which saw Pakistan’s PM and 1992 World cup winning captain Imran Khan advising Sarfaraz Ahmed on what to do after winning the toss in Manchester.

Pakistan was 6-0 in 50-over World Cups to India losing in 1992,1996,1999,2003, 2011, and 2015. They were desperate to bring one back for the sake of their own sanity and their fans as well.

However, the script went terribly wrong for the Green Army, despite massive support from the Asian diaspora in the ground. The familiar chants filled the English air — “Jeetega Bhai Jeetega” ended with “India” or “Pakistan”, and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” was met with “Pakistan Pakistan”.

Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and despite all logic and previous advice from experts and former captains, chose to bowl first on a pitch that was a batting beauty, all because of some cloud cover. Pakistan had solace as Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the tournament after breaking his thumb in the match against Australia, in a winning effort which included a brilliant century.

KL Rahul opened the innings with Rohit Sharma, who was in terrific form and forged a brilliant 136-run partnership in 24 overs. Pakistan was to blame themselves for this start as their bowling looked lackluster with Mohammad Amir missing his venom and Hasan Ali looking unfit. Wahab Riaz and Shadab Khan didn’t fare better and they missed a dolly chance of running Rohit out early in the innings as well.

Though KL Rahul fell for 57, Rohit marched on to make 140 in 113 balls with 3 sixes and 14 fours and was furious to get out to a nothing shot in the 39^th over, knowing well a chance for another double ton went begging.

Kohli (77) walked after edging to keeper Ahmed off Amir, but the replays showed no edge. Pandya (26) and Shankar (15*) took India to a formidable total of 336/5 in 50 overs.

Pakistan got help immediately from the heavens as Bhuvneshwar Kumar walked off the ground injured in the 5^th over of their innings, but Vijay Shankar, who was called onto complete his over, got rid of Imam on the first ball he bowled.

Zaman (62) and Babar (48) added 104 runs for the second wicket before Kuldeep Yadav sprang into action, first clean bowling Azam through the gate with the ball of the tournament. He then had Zaman caught by Chahal and the dominoes started falling there.

Hardik Pandya got rid of the experienced pair of Hafeez and Malik in two consecutive deliveries and Shankar accounted for captain Sarfaraz easily. Later Imad (46*) and Shadab (20*) salvaged the innings, but it was too little too late as a rain delay revised their target to 302 runs off 40 overs.

Pakistan ended up on 212/6, losing the match by 89 runs via D/L method. Kuldeep Yadav was the hero of the match as far as experts were concerned thanks to how he kept the usually aggressive Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam restrained and never let them break the shackles. He picked 2/32 in his 9 overs, while Pandya and Shankar also netted two wickets.

The Man of the Match, however, went to Rohit Sharma for his amazing 140 runs and India went up 7-0 in the World Cup campaigns.  

Here are the highlights of the match: