India hits a 6 against Pakistan
Adelaide for sure has never witnessed anything like this before; an almost full house with more than 41,000 spectators, that too when two foreign teams are playing against each other. The noisy hordes of India and Pakistan supporters were cheering their team aloud. A collective effort from Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina lifted India to 300 for 7, which proved an uphill task for archrivals, Pakistan.
Jittery Run Chase By Pakistan
The contest did not reached the heights many had hoped for. The Pakistan run-chase was too jittery as captain Misbah-ul-Haq was left in the familiar position of saving his team’s grace ‘alone’ as always. MS Dhoni marshalled his men quite skilfully as he kept rotating his bowlers at regular intervals. The spells of Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma and R Ashwin on a surface that slowed a little bit as the match progressed made all the difference. India was also helped by the DRS system that ends in their favour, dismissing Umar Akmal which was originally given not out by the umpire of edging a ball to Dhoni’s glove.
The loss of Ahmed Shehzad followed by Sohaib Maqsood in the space of just three balls from Umesh Yadav, was the hammer blow to Pakistan’s chase, leaving too much for the middle order to do. An explosive, but not reliable Shahid Afridi came in at number 7 which only proved that Pakistan has left all the hope from him when it comes to batting and is only considering him as a bowler.
A Collective Effort by the team
When Raina and Kohli were motoring towards the end with their 110-run stand, it seemed as though more than 325 was possible. It was at the end that Indian team lost its path and ended up with scoring just 21 runs in the final four overs. Sohail claimed five wickets when he did MS Dhoni for too much pace and then Ajinkya Rahane for a golden duck and nearly missed a hat-trick when his yorker beat not only Shami, but also the off stump by centimetres.
It was a match to forget for the Pakistani team as they should now concentrate on the other matches to follow. Indian team on the other hand, should not lose their momentum from here as this is the best result possible to boost them for the rest of the World Cup.
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