"The wicket was a bit slow. We were focusing on the length. They were not attacking too much so I was just focusing on my pace and my variations," Kuldeep says. "I was bowling very well. Not too much width because of the field restrictions. They weren't trying too much. Rizwan didn't sweep me a lot so I wanted to make him play the bad shot. I've been watching Saud Shakeel the last couple of games and he'd been trying to sweep a lot. He thought that ball was slow but it skidded on. Unbelievable to play in front of this crowd. This atmosphere is crazy, playing against Pakistan and seeing close to 90,000 people here." .
Some stats courtesy Sampath:
- Five bowlers taking two wickets each in a men's ODI World Cup innings:
India vs Pakistan, Mohali 2011 New Zealand vs Sri Lanka, Christchurch 2015 India vs Pakistan, Ahmedabad 2023
- Pakistan's last seven partnerships accounted for 36 runs, the third-fewest by them in a men's ODI.
It will take something truly extraordinary if Pakistan are to somehow make a game of this, but at this stage, it's the 11 Indians out there who have a spring in their step, and the 100,000 or so in the crowd with life in their roars.
Haris Rauf lbw b Jadeja 2 (9m 6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 33.33
Gitanshu: "As an Indian fan, only thing to worry is if it's the pitch? If it too early to say it is a one sided affair? " It's all hindsight now, but it does seem like Pakistan might not have needed the 300-320 people seemed to believe. This, however, is likely much, much too little
END OF OVER:42 | 1 Run | PAK: 190/9 | RR: 4.52
- Shaheen Shah Afridi1 (6b)
- Haris Rauf2 (5b)
- Hardik Pandya6-0-34-2
- Ravindra Jadeja9-0-37-1
Santhosh: "Many criticized Rohit of choosing bowling first and he made them all keep quiet!"
