India smash Pakistan in Champions Trophy

So, when India were drawn to play Pakistan in their opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, all eyes were going to be on India and how they were going to begin the defence of their CT title.

Things had started brightly for Pakistan, who won the toss and saw Amir send down a brilliant first over.

Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma put on another century partnership in the Champions Trophy and then Virat Kohli took over from there. Dhawan slammed 68 runs off 65 balls with a six and six boundaries.

But fellow left-arm fast bowler Wahab was hugely expensive, his wicketless 8.4 overs costing 87 runs.

Kohli’s master-class from 68 balls helped India post 3-319 in their 48 overs, after their innings had desperately needed a spark.

Rohit Sharma, captain Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh played some belligerent innings to propel India towards a mammoth score.

Aware of tougher opposition ahead, such as top-ranked South Africa in the same group, India captain Virat Kohli praised his batsmen, but wasn’t totally happy. “Hopefully we’ll take this confidence into the next game against Sri Lanka”, Yuvraj said, upon being adjudged player of the match.

Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed was less than impressed with his side’s performance, and said: “Everything was under control after 40 overs, but we lost the plot in the last eight”.

“If there were interruption (s) during Team 1’s innings, or Team 1’s innings was cut short, so the numbers of overs in the two innings are reduced (but still the same as each other), then (in the Professional Edition) D/L will adjust Team 2’s target score as described above”.

While India-Pakistan matches have always captivated the imagination of the avid cricket fan, these encounters have been few and far between, especially in recent years.

Nor were they aided by a ragtag fielding display, even by Pakistan’s standards: the opening 20 overs brought five egregious misfields.

Pakistan’s woes were exacerbated by injuries to seamers Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz, who both left the field after breaking down mid-over.

When play resumed at 14:18pm local time (1318 GMT), India were 173 for one in 33.1 overs.

Azhar Ali continued his batting streak and ended up scoring a fifty but soon he too was gulped byRavindra Jadeja in the 21st over and he was dismissed right after scoring his half century.

India smashed 72 off their final four overs as Pakistan’s attack wilted. However, Team Pakistan Only managed to Cover up a Total of 164 (All Out) with Run Rat of 4.87 and Team India Managed to Cover up with 6.64 RR in Total.