ICC World Cup: India to Chase 192 after Pakistan Suffers Middle Order Collapse
Pakistan lost eight wickets for 36 runs as they collapsed to 191 all out against India. Five Indian bowlers were among the wickets, all taking two apiece, with Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav sparking the collapse with a superb spell.
After the 30th over mark, Kuldeep struck twice to remove Saud Shakeel (6) and Iftikhar Ahmed (4) in the same over. While Shakeel was trapped lbw, Iftikhar was cleaned up while trying to sweep a wrong 'un.
Rohit then brought in Jasprit Bumrah into the attack, and like most of his moves on the day, it worked like a charm. Bumrah cleaned up the set Mohammad Rizwan one short of a half-century. A slow off-cutter did the trick for Bumrah. In his very next over, Bumrah got one to land on the surface and curve in towards Shadab Khan's off-stump, cleaning up the batter in process.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field. India made one change into their playing XI, with a now-fit Shubman Gill walking into the XI in place of Ishan Kishan. Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq started in a positive fashion. While they were watchful against the disciplined Jasprit Bumrah, they took their chances against any loose delivery from Mohammed Siraj.
Rohit, however, persisted with his pacers, and the move bore fruits as Siraj struck in the eighth over. He got one to jag in and trapped Abdullah Shafique leg before in the eighth over.
Imam and Babar tried to ensure that Pakistan went ahead at a healthy scoring rate. Babar got among runs pretty quickly, hitting three fours against Hardik Pandya in his first 10 balls. Just when Pakistan were closing in to a run rate close to six, Imam went for an expansive drive and ended up edging a Pandya delivery to KL Rahul.
India thought they had another in the next over when Ravindra Jadeja hit the pads of Mohammad Rizwan, and the umpire raised his finger. However, Rizwan reviewed and survived the call after it turned out that the ball was straying down the leg-side. Rizwan then joined forces with Babar to keep Pakistan close to five at the 20 over mark.
India spinners maintained steady control over the game over the next few overs, with Kuldeep showing great control in particular. The Pakistan pair finally broke shackles in the 28th over, when they took 13 runs off Siraj. Babar reached his first-ever ODI half-century against India with a splendid four through the point.
However, Rohit's persistence with Siraj paid off once more, as the pacer beat Babar's outside edge and crashed into his off-stump in the 30th over.