Champions Trophy Indo-Pak Battle

India was invited to bat first after they lost the toss. The Indian openers began with a cautious approach by not allowing the Pakistani bowlers to make any early inroad. Both Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma played elegant shorts to become the first pair to build a partnership of over 100 runs in the history of Champions Trophy thrice. After the dismissals of the openers, which came on either side of the rain break, Indian captain Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh built the Indian innings with Yuvraj playing some glorious shots.

Both of them were dropped as Pakistan fielded poorly. India played quite well in the death overs scoring 72 runs in the last four overs with Hardik Pandya hitting three consecutive sixes in the last over bowled by spinner Imad Wasim. Wahab Riaz, whose spell ended as a result of an ankle injury, conceded the most runs in a match (87) in the Champions Trophy history. India scored 319 runs in 48 overs. Rohit Sharma was the top-scorer for India scoring 91 runs.

Pakistan began their innings on a quiet note by playing risk-free cricket but lost their plot after the rain-break. Bhuvneshwar Kumar began the wicket riot by scalping Ahmed Shehzad LBW after the break. Pakistan lost their wickets at regular intervals and never seemed to be on course for the chase. Ravindra Jadeja picked two wickets and ran Shoaib Malik out while Hardik Pandya too picked 2 wickets and took a catch. Umesh Yadav ended the opposition’s innings and ended with three wickets.

Yuvraj Singh was awarded the Man of the Match award for his quick 53 off 32 balls.

This was India’s second biggest victory against Pakistan in terms of runs. With this win, India has defeated Pakistan in their last seven encounters in ICC tournaments.