The first innings of the nail-biting blockbuster match between Rohit Sharma-led India and Babar Azam-led Pakistan at the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 at Ahmedabad, where Indian blowers picked up all Pakistani wickets at 191 in just 42.5 overs.
After winning the toss, India chose to bowl first against their arch-rivals Pakistan in an ICC World Cup 2023 match arch-rival important.
Despite a good start, Pakistani batters struggled to keep up and lost quick wickets scoring just 191 runs.
Meanwhile, in the 13th over, Hardik Pandya provided Team India an Imam slashed away for a boundary breakthrough by dismissing opener Imam ul Haq, as the latter was trying to pace up the innings.
Pandya bowled a half-volley that much-awaited. In the third delivery of the 13th over, Pandya pitched the bowl just outside the off stump angling away from the batter, which Imam misjudged. He went for a drive, however, the ball took an edge off his bat and headed to wicketkeeper KL Rahul.
Following this, Pandya broke into an animated celebration and signed goodbye. This went viral on social media.
Here's the screengrab:
In the post match talk on the field, when asked for what was the mantra he spoke to ball, Pandya said, “Main khud ko motivate kar raha tha ki thoda jagah pe bowling daalo. Jyada cheezen karne mat jao…basically gaaliya si khud ko (I was trying to motivate myself to bowl at right places and not to try much stuffs. Basically, I abused myself (laughs)).”
India Vs Pakistan ICC World Cup 2023:
Meanwhile, Indian bowlers packed up Pakistan's innings at 191 in just 42.5 overs, with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja picking up two wickets each.
Besides skipper Babar Azam (50) and Mohammad Rizwan (49), no other batter could cross the 40-run mark. However, Imam-ul-Haq scored 36 runs and Abdullah Shafique scored 20 runs.
Now, India needs 192 runs to win the match in 50 overs. India would like to keep their track record going as they would have never lost against Pakistan in World Cup matches.
This is the 8th match between the two rivals in World Cup tournaments, and India would like to make it 8-0. Till now, both the two teams have won their two matches.
Chasing a target of 191 runs, India lost Shubman Gill to Shaheen Afridi. Currently, skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are on the crease, and India has scored 31/1 in 4 overs.
