ICC World Cup 2023, IND vs PAK: Won fine day!

Rohit Sharma smashes one for a six during his 86 on Saturday. Pics/PTI

Through their two most accomplished batsmen, Pakistan were in the process of establishing a base for a final assault when India's bowlers catalysed a collapse of epic proportions. Once they lost eight for 36 in 80 deliveries and imploded from 155 for two midway through the 30th over to 191 all out in the 43rd, this World Cup encounter was headed only one way.

Egged on by arguably the biggest crowd at an ODI at the Narendra Modi Stadium, India extended their World Cup record over their fiercest rivals to 8-0 with a comprehensive seven-wicket victory, attained with 117 deliveries to spare, on Saturday night. The party received a further fillip through Rohit Sharma, who reprised his magic of Wednesday night against Afghanistan with another pulverising effort that knocked the stuffing out of Pakistan's vaunted bowling attack.

Also Read: ICC World Cup 2023, IND vs PAK: India maintain squeaky-clean 8-0 World Cup record against Pakistan

Jasprit Bumrah (centre) celebrates a wicket with Virat Kohli (left) and Ravindra Jadeja on Saturday

Rohit walked away with most of the plaudits for his magnificent 86 - he threw his hand away with a second successive century beckoning - but this was a victory fashioned almost entirely by India's bowling group. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were in the middle of a measured association of 82 on a somewhat tricky surface where the ball sat on the pitch and kept low from time to time, when an otherwise profligate Mohammed Siraj broke through by cleaning up the Pakistani captain a ball after he brought up his first ODI half-century against India.

That set the cat amongst the pigeons, India swarming all over Pakistan. Rohit's captaincy was spot on as he made the right bowling changes; Jasprit Bumrah was outstanding in a second spell of 3-0-5-2, Hardik Pandya reiterated his value with two sticks, Kuldeep Yadav weaved a magical web of deception and Ravindra Jadeja hustled and harried the batsmen with his pace through the air and accuracy.

Pakistan were culpable of a collective brain-fade, but Bumrah produced near-unplayable deliveries to pack off Rizwan - an off-cutter that gripped and turned - and Shadab Khan, who played inside the line to one that jagged away and hit the top of off. Allied with Kuldeep's twin strikes in one over that accounted for Saud Shakeel and Iftikhar Ahmed, Pakistan's batting lay in a shambles.

Pakistan's only hope of making a match of it was to strike early, but Rohit wasn't in the mood to oblige. Shubman Gill electrified with four pleasing boundaries on his World Cup debut, but it was the skipper who batted in overdrive, as if to show that Afghanistan or Pakistan, he had all the answers. Boundaries cascaded off his willow with telling finality, Shaheen Shah Afridi's threat neutralised and the express Haris Rauf pulled repeatedly with utter disdain; it was breathtaking batsmanship that eclipsed everything else. Shreyas Iyer quietly helped himself to a half-century and the winning boundary as the sea of blue erupted in unabashed approbation.

8
No. of wickets Pakistan lost for just 36 runs. They collapsed from 155-2 to 191 all out

Brief scores
Pakistan 191 all out in 42.5 overs (B Azam 50, M Rizwan 49, I Haq 36; J Bumrah 2-19, H Pandya 2-34, K Yadav 2-35, R Jadeja 2-38, M Siraj 2-50) lost to India 192-3 in 30.3 overs (R Sharma 86, S Iyer 53'; S Afridi 2-36) by 7 wickets