Champions Trophy | How and where India won the game against Pakistan

Champions Trophy | How and where India won the game against Pakistan

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India got their CT campaign off to a perfect start with a 124-run win over Pakistan today. But even before the match turned into a foregone conclusion, it was clear that the match was a tactical blunder by Pakistan. Here is a look at how India secured the dominating win over their eternal rivals.

Pakistan openers failed to do what Indian openers do

Although India started on a sedate note, they never let the opportunity of stealing singles and converting the ones into twos slip from their hands at any point during the innings. In an ODI match, a 100+ opening partnership is a job half done and Rohit-Dhawan hit Pakistan’s morale right from the outset. The Pakistan openers, on the other hand, failed to apply themselves in the game. After getting the revised target, they failed to adapt to the run-chase and more conservative approach didn’t help their cause at all.  That also proved to be their undoing in the later part of the innings when the required rate touched double digits and the middle and lower order succumbed to the pressure.

Wahab and Hasan’s wayward bowling prove to be the difference

Giving juicy full-length balls to Yuvraj Singh has always been nothing but suicidal. But Wahab Riaz and Hasan Ali seemed to be unaware of the fact that and continuously bowled him on the full-length area. Yuvraj, taking full advantage of that, hit Riaz for 19 off 13 balls and collected 25 runs off Hasan’s 11 balls to set the base for his innings. Had they tried to land the ball little shorter and tighter, things could have been different as we have seen many times in the past. Their Indian counterparts, on the other hand, kept a nagging line and coupled with the occasional swing managed to tie down the Pakistan batsmen. Umesh Yadav bowled with a lot of discipline by keeping the ball in the range of middle and off-stump to upset the rhythm of Pakistan openers. 

Why spinners when Kohli is on the field?

This question would have haunted the Pakistan skipper the most today as he lies on his hotel bed after the game. When Kohli had just walked in, instead of allowing the pacers to dictate terms, Ahmed contrived with the spinning duo of Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim that allowed Kohli to settle on the crease as well, and boy did he punish his Pakistani counterpart for the mistake. Virat was slow in his approach at the beginning but when the time came he was able to switch gears and unleash his sensational checked drives on the opposition. 

Imad should take a leaf out of Jadeja’s book

While one can understand the logic that Imad Wasim would have found it hard to bowl in the middle overs, as such he was given the new ball, his performance was uninspiring, to say the least. Due to his lack of pace, the Indian openers picked him up quite easily and with an economy of 7.20, it proved to be a bad day at the office for the 28-year-old. 

Jadeja, on the other hand, was quicker through the air and kept mixing up the flighted deliveries with the flatter ones to lure the batsman. His line and length were impeccable and he never let the pressure that was a built by the pacers fade away. It was the trick that helped him being the highest wicket taker in the last edition of the tournament. Clearly, Imad lacks the experience to bowl at this level and Jadeja showed just how the game can be turned into your team’s favour.

Who will advance to the final? India or Bangladesh ? IND holds a 3-2 advantage in the last 6 H2H ODIs. But, the rejuvenated BAN side who would be playing their 1st SF in an ICC tournament would definitely not be an easy go for IND. Win cash by predicting the right result by playing Nostragamus here on Android! To know more, visit Nostragamus.in.

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