India have won their first three matches in the ongoing World Cup at home.
Opting to bowl first, the hosts bundled out Pakistan for a paltry 191 in 42.5 overs. Jasprit Bumrah starred with the ball for India, claiming two wickets by conceding only 19 runs in his seven overs.
Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja also returned with a couple of scalps each.
In reply, Rohit Sharma made a mockery of Pakistan’s bowling attack as he slammed 86 off 63 balls to put his team on the brink of victory. After his dismissal, Shreyas Iyer (53*) and KL Rahul (19*) completed the formalities and took India over the line with 19.3 overs to spare.
After the game, veteran wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik said India showed why they're such a strong side and such strong contenders to win the World Cup.
“They're two good sides, one is in really good form and one finding its feet a little bit. But I thought India showed why they're such a strong side and such strong contenders to win the World Cup. They bowled well, they fielded well and then the captain came up with the goods with the bat which was brilliant to watch,” said Karthik while speaking to Sky Sports.
According to Karthik, this is Rohit Sharma’s dream team, insisting that the Indian captain has had tough conversations with some players who missed out on the 15-member squad.
“Rohit Sharma, if he ever had a dream team, this is it. And I say that because there was a tough conversation to be had around Yuzvendra Chahal, who everybody rates very highly but isn't part of the squad. There was Akshar Patel, who was picked. Yes, he got injured, but he had to have a conversation saying I'm going for Ashwin. Rohit has had those hard conversations but also had the belief in what he thinks this team should be,” he added.
This was India’s third win in a row in the ongoing World Cup and they are now leading the points table, surpassing New Zealand owing to a superior net run-rate of +1.821.
The Men in Blue will face Bangladesh in their next World Cup clash in Pune on Thursday (October 19).