World Cup 2023: India crush Pakistan by 7 wickets, win with 19 overs to spare

India thrashed Pakistan by seven wickets in a lopsided blockbuster match at a raucous Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday to keep their immaculate 50-overs World Cup record against their arch-rivals intact.

Pakistan were bowled out for 191 in the 43rd over as their batting line-up imploded in the face of determined Indian bowlers. On Saturday, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav sparked a dramatic Pakistan collapse and shared four wickets in India’s overwhelming win against their archrivals at the 2023 World Cup.

The seven-wicket triumph in front of more than 100,000 supporters at Narendra Modi Stadium was India’s eighth successive World Cup victory over Pakistan, dating back to 1992. As Pakistan collapsed from 155/2 (29.3 overs) to 191 all out in 42.5 overs, Bumrah took 2/19 in seven overs and Kuldeep got 2/35 in ten overs. Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, and Ravindra Jadeja all took two wickets in addition to Kuldeep and Bumrah.

As India rushed to victory, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma scorched a 36-ball half-century, while Shreyas Iyer gave the finishing touches with an unbroken fifty of his own. India concluded with 192/3 (30.3 overs) after Rohit struck 86 runs off 63 balls, including six fours and six sixes. Shreyas reached his half-century with a boundary, which also proved to be the winning runs, and finished undefeated on 53 off 62 balls.

The victory was India’s seventh in the worldwide 50-over tournament, while Pakistan had never matched their neighbours in terms of ability, tactics, or implementation since 1992.

Since the 1980s, the two teams have met a total of 204 times, with Pakistan winning 88 matches to India’s 73. India has won 56 of the 134 One-Day Internationals (ODIs), whereas Pakistan has won 73. During the World Cups, India won all seven One-Day Internationals (ODIs). In T20Is, India won five, Pakistan won one, and one was a draw. However, in the Champions Trophy, Pakistan went undefeated in three matches, while India only won two.

Rohit Sharma, Indian Captain: “The bowlers today as well set the game for us. Restricting them to 190 was a great effort. It was not a 190 pitch. At one stage we were looking at 280 or 290. Whoever gets the ball does the job for the team. We have got six individuals who can do the job. It cannot be everyone’s day every day. The person having a good day has to finish the job. My job as captain has to be important. Whoever is doing the job on the day I have to figure out who is doing the job and go with him. It’s only because the guys entering the World Cup got a lot of runs. The role clarity as well was great. We knew what to do. Entering the WC we didn’t want to see what happened previously. We were very clear about what we wanted to do. The batters got the opportunity and made it count. The bowlers also did their job. Lots of five-fors. I will keep my fingers crossed. We don’t want to get too excited and also not get too low as well. It is a long tournament, nine league games and then the semis and final. Just have to keep the balance and go forward. I have said it before, for us it was an opposition we wanted to play. Every opposition we come against they can beat you. We have to be good on that particular day. The past and future does not matter.”

Babar Azam, Pakistani Captain: “We started well, good partnership. We just planned to play normal cricket an build partnerships. Suddenly there was a collapse and we could not finish well. Not good for us, the way we started, our target was 280-290 but the collapse cost us. The total was not good. We are not up to the mark with the new ball. The way Rohit played, was an outstanding innings. We just tried to take wickets, but that didn’t happen.”

Jasprit Bumrah, Player of the Match: “It felt good. You get to analyse the wicket as soon as possible. We knew the wicket was on the slower side so the hard lengths were the way. We were trying to make it as difficult as possible for the batters. Just the awareness helps. When I was young I used to ask a lot of questions, so that has helped me develop a lot of knowledge. I like to read the wickets and try a lot of options. I saw Jaddu’s ball was turning, so I count my slower ball as a spinner’s slower ball. I thought that can make the run-scoring tough, and it worked. There was a little phase in there where there was reverse swing. It was an outswinger I was looking to ball but there was parts of reverse swing happening. I have seen Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram bowl some magical deliveries. So to get his nod is great.”

India vs Pakistan Score Updates: SCORECARD 

Pakistan

• Abdullah Shafique 20
• Imam-ul-Haq 36
• Babar Azam 50
• Muhammad Rizwan 49
• Saud Shakeel 6
• Iftikhar Ahmed 4
• Shadab Khan 2
• Mohammad Nawaz 4
• Hasan Ali 12
• Shaheen Afridi* 2
• Haris Rauf 2

India bowling

• Jasprit Bumrah 2/19 (7)
• Mohammed Siraj 2/50 (8)
• Hardik Pandya 2/34 (6)
• Kuldeep Yadav 2/35 (10)
• Ravindra Jadeja 2/38 (9.5)
• Shardul Thakur 0/12 (2)

India

• Rohit Sharma 86
• Shubman Gill 16
• Virat Kohli 16
• Shreyas Iyer 53
• KL Rahul 19

Pakistan bowling

• Shaheen Afridi 2/36 (6)
• Hasan Ali 1/34 (6)
• Mohammed Nawaz 0/47 (8.3)
• Haris Rauf 0/43 (6)
• Shadab Khan 0/31 (4)

Pakistan XI: 1 Abdullah Shafique, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Babar Azam (capt), 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Hasan Ali, 10 Shaheen Afridi, 11 Haris Rauf

India XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj