On June 16, 2019, India and Pakistan locked horns with each other for the 7th time in the ICC World Cup and the blockbuster was expected in Manchester, but it turned out to be a one-sided affair thanks to the all-round performance of the men in blue. Team India emerged victorious in the clash of the arch-rivals on a rainy day at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground, the venue which has hosted the most number of World Cup matches to date.
Fans of both the teams were eagerly waiting for the game, but the one-sided game was made interesting y the Indian batsmen, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohl. Ahead of this game, Rohit had scored a century and a fifty in India’s first two matches of the tournament. He continued in the same vein against Pakistan, smashing 140 off 113 balls as the men in blue posted a dominating target of 336 for 5 in 50 overs after being asked to bat by Sarfaraz Ahmed.
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Rohit got some support from KL Rahul, who was playing his first match of the World Cup as opener replacing the injured Shikhar Dhawan, and captain Virat throughout India’s innings. Both the Indian openers stitched a commendable partnership of 136 runs before Kohli and his deputy added 98 runs for the second wicket which put India completely in the driver’s seat.
by smashing The top-three virtually tilted the game in India’s favor in the first innings itself as they run through the Pakistan bowling attack by missing 24 boundaries and 5 sixes between themselves. Rohit himself smashed 14 fours and three towering maximums during his match-winning knock.
And just like their batsmen, the Indian bowlers never let their guard down as Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya, and Kuldeep Yadav bagged a couple of wickets each and restricted Pakistan to 212 for 6, as they chased a revised target of 302 in 40 overs due to a couple of rain interruptions.
The win stretched India’s unbeaten record against Pakistan at the 50-over World Cups to 7 matches. The Men in Blue also took the overall head-to-head count to 11-0 against the Men in Green in World Cups, ODI & T20I combined.
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India lost the semi-final against New Zealand at the same venue while Pakistan failed to reach the knockouts after losing 5 of their 9 games in the round-robin group stage. Rohit Sharma ended up as the tournament’s leading scorer with 648 runs at an average of 81.00.
