India continued its domination over Pakistan as the Men in Blue registered a 7-wicket win over Babar Azam and co. in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match in Ahmedabad on October 14. This was India's 8th straight win over Pakistan in CWC tournaments.
Pakistan was bundled out for 191 runs from 155/2 as India's bowlers shined after Rohit Sharma had opted to bowl first after winning the toss. Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, and Mohammed Siraj picked two wickets each.
For Pakistan, Babar Azam (50), Mohammad Rizwan (49) and Imam Ul Haq (36) were the main run-getters.
In response, Rohit Sharma led from the front with a sublime 86-run knock, and with Shreyas Iyer making 53*, India completed an easy win in 30.3 overs. With this, they went to the top of the ICC World Cup points table with 6 points in 3 matches with a net run rate of +1.821.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Rohit was full of praise for Indian bowlers whose combined efforts kept Pakistan to a below-par total.
“The bowlers were the ones today as well who set the game up for us. I don't think it was a 190-pitch. At one stage we were looking at 280. The way they showed grit says a lot. That is something we pride ourselves in. Whoever gets the ball does the job. We've got 6 individuals who can do the job with the ball,” he was quoted as saying on Star Sports.
Rohit Sharma stressed on his role as a skipper saying his role comes into play while figuring out the right players to get the job done.
“My job as a captain is important there as well. It's to read the conditions and figure out who's the right guy to do the job. It's only because the guys - before entering the WC - they got a lot of runs. We were very clear about what we wanted to do. Didn't want to be in two minds about who's going to bat where,” he added.
Rohit Sharma said he was keeping his fingers crossed and wanted the team to keep calm and move forward.
“All in all, it's looking good. Want to keep my fingers crossed. Don't want to get too excited. Don't want to get too low as well. Want to stay balanced. Keep calm and keep moving forward. Every opposition we come up against is all quality. You have to play well on that particular day, and that's what we're looking at,” he said.
India will now face Bangladesh on Thursday, October 19 in Pune.
