Pakistan fail to break jinx as India win by 124 runs

BIRMINGHAM: India thrashed Pakistan by 124 runs on Sunday in their Champions Trophy opener at Edgbaston, as the green-shirts yet again failed to break the jinx of defeat against their arch-rivals in ICC tournaments.

Chasing a revised target of 289 in 41 overs after three rain interruptions, Pakistan finished on 164, with injured last man Wahab Riaz unable to bat as India won with 44 balls to spare.

India piled up 319 for three in 48 overs in the first innings after Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Rohit Sharma top-scored with 91 and put on 136 for the first wicket with Shikhar Dhawan (68).

India captain Virat Kohli made 81 not out, sharing a quickfire third-wicket stand with Yuvraj Singh (53) as Pakistan paid a heavy price for dropping both batsmen.

India plundered 72 runs in their final four overs as Pakistan´s attack wilted.

Soon after Shehzad, the middle order batsman Babar Azam was dismissed by Umesh Yadav on 8 runs.   

In the 14th over Pakistan's Azhar Ali got a second life when he was dropped by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. 

However, the former skipper played a loose stroke on the ball of Ravindra Jadeja, giving an easy catch to Hardik Pandya after scoring a half century. 

After Azhar Ali`s departure, Shoaib Malik was run out from a brilliant direct run out from Ravindera Jadeja. The veteran batsman was at 15, with a strike rate of 166.66. 

Soon after Malik`s dismissal, another senior batsman, Mohammad Hafeez gave an easy catch to Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the bowl of Ravindera Jadeja.

Hafeez played an inning of 33 runs off 43 balls. 

For surprise of many, batsman Imad Wasim in the very next over, on the very first ball of his inning drove towards Kedar Jadhav to give a net practice catch. 

Skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed also failed to create a momentum against the arch-rivals as he was caught behind by MS Dhoni on the bowl of Hardik Pandya. 

After Sarfraz`s dismissal, Mohammad Amir and Hasan Ali were quickly shown pavilion on the second and fourth delivery of the 33rd over. Packing up the Pakistani batting line up. 

First Innings 

Earlier, powerful batting by India skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh powered India to 319-3. In the rain-hit match which was reduced to 48 overs, India have set a 324 run target for Pakistan to chase. 

Pakistan bowling was earlier given a breather after a throw by Babar Azam/Sarfraz Ahmed saw Rohit Sharma fall 9 runs short of a century.

India resumed batting at 173-1 (33.1 overs) after rain cleared for the second time during the game, looking in command even after young spinner Shadab Khan earlier gave Pakistan a much-needed breakthrough by breaking the Indian opening partnership with Shikar Dhawan's wicket.

Shadab's strike ended the opening stand of 136, after sure-footed fifties by openers Rohit Sharma and Shikar Dhawan put India in control after play resumed at 46-0 (9.5 overs) as rain cleared after a brief interruption at Edgbaston.

Pakistan bowlers earlier kept Indian openers quiet in the starting overs of the match before rain intervened. Mohammad Amir kickstarted the match with a fiery maiden, after Pakistan won the toss and opted to field against India to begin their Champions Trophy campaign at Edgbaston on Sunday.

But India were soon back in command as Sharma hit a fifty off 71 balls, followed by Dhawan who brought up his half-century soon after.

The two teams were expected to draw a global TV audience of over a billion for their high-octane clash  in the fourth match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. 

This was the first encounter between the subcontinental rivals in a year, and only the fourth time the two teams are meeting competitively on British soil.

India left out star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and experienced seamer Mohammad Shami from the side that launched their title defence in a 50-over tournament featuring the world´s top eight one-day international teams.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja was the lone specialist slow bowler in an India attack also featuring pacemen Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Hardik Pandya.

Pakistan left out all-rounder Fahim Ashraf but included 18-year-old leg-spinner Shadab Khan for just his fourth one-day international.