India started their Champions Trophy defence on a resounding note by beating Pakistan in a one-sided match at Edgbaston today. All the four top order batsmen scored half centuries and then the Indian team dominated winning the match by 124 runs.
Pakistan captain Sarfarz Ahmed won the toss and elected to field. The Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit started the innings on a slow note scoring 15 runs in the first five overs. Before the rain break, India was 46 in 9.5 overs. After a 1 hour delay, the match started again and then both openers continued their attacking approach by taking singles, hitting bad balls away for boundaries. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan played the ball on its merit. Rohit Sharma completed his 50 in 67 balls while the left handed batsman took 47 balls to reach his half century. Both of them put on 136 for the first wicket in 24.3 overs.
Virat Kohli came to the crease as the Pakistani bowlers allowed him to settle by bowling spinners at both ends. Rain intervened again at the score 173 for 1. The match was reduced to 48 overs side. Rohit Sharma played two attacking strokes before being dismissed for 91 runs. Yuvraj Singh took less time to settle and just showed class with him timing.
Virat Kohli was struggling to time the ball. In the last 9 overs, Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli hammered the Pakistani bowling. Singh scored his half century in 29 balls while Kohli completed his fifty in 58 balls. In the 46th over Wahab Riaz gave away 18 runs in 5 balls before he had to leave the field. The southpaw was dismissed for 32 balls. Hardik Pandya came to the crease and scored a quickfire 20 off 6 balls while Kohli remained not out on 81 in 68 balls.
The Pakistani team were given a revised target of 324. Azhar Ali and Shezad scored 22 runs in 4.5 overs when rained again arrived. Now Pakistan was given a target of 289 in 41 overs. In the first 8 overs, Pakistan scored 38. Ahmed Shezad was the first batsman to be dismissed for 12. None of Pakistan batsmen were able to hit big runs as wickets fell at regular intervals. Azhar Ali completed his fifty in 64 balls. After the fall of his wicket, none of Pakistani batsmen did not contribute and was bowled out for 164 in 33.4 overs. Wahab Riaz did not come to bat. For India, apart from Bumrah every Indian bowler picked wickets. The defending Champions won the match by 124 runs via D/L method.
India 319 for 3 in 48 overs ( Rohit Sharma 91, Virat Kohli 81, Yuvraj Singh 53) beat Pakistan 164 in 33.4 overs ( Azhar Ali 50, Mohammed Hafeez 33 Umesh Yadav 3/30, Ravindra Jadeja 2/43) by 124 runs
India 2 Pakistan 0
The next match of the tournament will be Bangladesh taking on Australia at Oval in a day night match.
