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Tue, Nov 05, 2024 | Jumada al-Awwal 3, 1446 | DXB
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Cricket World Cup 2023: India's clinical performance against Pakistan gave the full house their money’s worth
Bumrah and Co demonstrated the overall strength of Indian bowling with their attacking intent
- By
- Anis Sajan
Mohammed Siraj celebrates after taking the prize wicket of Pakistan's captain Babar Azam. - AFP
The atmosphere was electrifying at the Narendra Modi stadium for the most anticipated match of the Cricket World Cup with 120,000 fans all backing the home side.
It was a sea of blue around the ground and the home fans were behind the players cheering every shot, every wicket.
Pakistan was off to a decent start after being put in and hit five boundaries and it looked like a belter of a wicket to score runs. Skipper Babar Azam and Rizwan put up a good partnership and Pakistan looked good at 155/2 in 29 overs but that’s when Indian bowlers hit their strap.
Mohammed Siraj cleaned up Babar Azam and after that, Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah were all over the Pakistan batsman.
The ball which Bumrah delivered that dismantled Mohammed Rizwan’s stumps was a peach and he followed it up with a similar scorcher to remove Shadab Khan.
From 155 for two Pakistan just folded up for 191 losing their last eight wickets for just 36 runs, folding up in 41.5 overs.
The disappointment was players like Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan all getting good starts but not being able to convert into a big one to test the strong Indian batting.
Skipper Babar Azam was short of runs and getting his first 50 against India was good but not great but not good enough as he should have tried to convert it into a big one.
This was his best chance to silence his critics, but it was not to be, and his wicket led to a total collapse which was like a pack of cards crashing down.
The good part about the Indian bowlers was that they were not trying to contain the Pakistan batsman but were determined to pick wickets and that was the reason every bowler got two wickets, except for Thakur, which showed the overall strength of Indian bowling.
It was an absolute clinical performance which gave the full house their money’s worth. The match might not have been exciting, but the fans came to see their team in blue win and make it eight-nil against Pakistan in World Cups.
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And when India batted, Rohit Sharma came out with full intent scoring 86 which flattened the Pakistan bowlers of any fight and resulted in India winning with more than 20 overs to spare, making it once again a one-sided affair.
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