In the thrilling 12th ODI of the CWC 2023, arch-rival India and Pakistan faced off each other at the Narendra Modi Stadium. India collected their third victory of the tournament by beating Pakistan in an utterly dominant fashion.
Predictions favored India as they have beaten Pakistan multiple times recently. As per the predictions, the match went in India’s favor. In the previous 7 CWC encounters, India managed to win every single time. India kept their winning streak intact and made it 8-0 this time. The match was supposed to act as a facelift for the tournament, as BCCI decided to generate hype, particularly for this match.
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After losing the toss, bad luck accompanied Pakistan as they headed to bat first. While the openers made a fine stand, things started to fall apart after Mohammed Siraj took out Babar Azam. In a very disappointing fashion, Pakistan lost 7 wickets within 37 runs. At some point, Pakistan looked good enough to score 300+. However, they lost their entire middle-order and lower-order within 191 runs. An overwhelming bowling performance from India left no space for Pakistan to score anything noteworthy.
India continue their unbeaten run against Pakistan in the Men's @cricketworldcup with an emphatic win in Ahmedabad 👊#CWC23 | #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/jfjRfvO5k6
— ICC (@ICC) October 14, 2023
In response, India only needed 3 wickets to beat Pakistan. Except for Shaheen Afridi’s early blow at his third over and Virat Kohli’s wicket later on, Pakistani bowling appeared plain and clumsy. Rohit Sharma alone made up for one-third of the target with his 86 runs out of 63 balls. On top of that, Shreyas Iyer’s 53 out of 62 was the final nail in the coffin for Pakistan. KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer remained not out till the end.
Jasprit Bumrah received the Player of the Match award for his insane (2/19) bowling skit. Bumrah lost only 19 runs in the 7 Overs he bowled, resulting in a bowling economy rate of 2.71. While Bumrah did his part, other Indian bowlers collected the same amount of wickets for a higher expense.
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Pakistan’s middle and lower-order collapse is a mystery. While they solve their mystery off the field, India will prepare to face Bangladesh on 19th October. Pakistan has a lot of problems to solve before their next match against Australia on 20th October.
