Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul got together for the first time in an ODI and solidly put on 136 runs in 23.5 overs, to begin with! Rahul did have early nerves. Rohit was in supreme touch right from the word go. Yet another soft dismissal gave an end to Rahul's knock, a well compiled 57(78 ) 3x4 2x6, When Wahab changed the angle to around the wicket after a warning for running on the danger area, Rahul soon hit a full delivery straight to Babar at Cover.

Rohit Sharma had one of his best days to compile his second hundred in this edition of the world cup, Which was also a second consecutive hundred against Pakistan after the 111 of 119 at the Asia cup on September 23, 2018. The century became his 24th ODI ton and his 3rd ton in world cups.

During the amazingly entertaining 140(113) with 14x4 and 3x6, He surpassed Dhoni to become the man to have the most sixes scored for team India (221). At 38.2 ,When he mistimed a scoop and got out caught by Wahab Riaz at short fine leg, off the bowling of Hassan Ali ,He looked frustrated on himself while returning to the pavilion ,Probably as 11.4 overs were there to play and he could have probably got to 200 by scoring the remaining 60 runs off maximum 35 balls .

The move of sending Hardik at number 4 again didn't work as much as it did against Australia. In his brief stay, Hardik had a mixed inning and he eventually got 26(19) 2x4 and 1x6. A helicopter shot off the bowling of Aamir, Who was at his best today too, Was rather too much to attempt. This happened at the juncture of 43.5 overs. Virat Kohli who was playing a six -less masterclass, Had to see another wicket fall, When Dhoni was dismissed off the second ball he faced, Sarfaraz took a simple catch off the bowling of Mohammad Aamir at 45.1.

Kohli walked out after assuming that he had edged a bouncer from Aamir, Even though the umpire didn't give it out and Sarfaraz wasn't appealing. The ultra edged showed there was no deviation at all and a huge gap between the ball and bat, was found. A 65 ball 77 came to a sad end. Exactly 6 balls earlier, The match was interrupted by rain India were 305/4 at 46.4 at the time of that rain break and 314/5 when Kohli got out at 47.4. During his innings while he reached 60 runs, He touched, the eleven thousand run mark in his 222nd ODI innings, Overpowering Sachin Tendulkar's efforts to reach the same number of runs in 276 innings.

31 runs were added from the last 20 balls after the rain break and only 38 runs came off the last five overs. India had to finish with 336/5 in the full 50 over innings beyond the rain, With Aamir picking up 3/47(10). While defending this total, In the fifth over, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar damaged his hamstring due to an impaired landing area of the ground resulting in a slip.

Vijay Shankar, Who came in to complete that over, Immediately picked up Imam Ul Haq LBW. The left-hander got out to a straight ball for after facing just 10 balls and scoring just 7. The dismissal was so straightforward to the extent that it wasn't even reviewed.

From 13-1 (4.5) to 117/1 (23.5), Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam stitched together a solid stand.

Then came to a magical ball from Kuldeep was tossed up, It pitched around off and spun in sharply and went through the defense of Babar and took down the stumps. A 57 ball 48 with 3 fours and a six, Was all Babar could get.
As they say in cricket "One brings two", Kuldeep got Fakhar Zaman, As the centurion from the champions trophy final, Attempted a sweep and top-edged it to Chahal at Short fine leg. This time, Zaman managed 62(75) with 7 fours and a six.

Hafeez hit a six off the second ball he faced. Yet, He lasted for only 7 more balls and unfortunately timed the 9th ball of his stay so well, That it went straight to Vijay Shankar at deep Square leg. Hardik Pandya picked up the wicket.
The very next ball, The final ball off the 27th over, A back of a length ball around off, Was chopped back by Shoaib Malik on to his stumps and that resulted in his exit for a golden duck. From being 117/1 in 23.5, Pakistan crumbled to 129/6 (27).

From this point, the first ball of the 35th over, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Imad Wasim were trying to consolidate. Yet, In an attempt to heave it on to the on the side from the off side, Sarfaraz inside-edged a Vijay Shankar delivery and perished after scoring 12(30). When Imad Wasim was on 22*(20 ) 3x4 and Shadab Khan had just faced his second ball, Rain halted the game again. Pakistan were 166/6(35), 86 runs behind the DLS par score

From that point, The innings was reduced to 40 overs, and Pakistan was given a target of 302; An unrealistic chase of 136 of 30 balls, Had to be formally completed. At the conclusive point, Pakistan went past the 200 run mark and ended with 212/6.

This meant an 89 run victory was registered by India as per the DLS method. This became the 7th straight victory across the span of 27 years for India against Pakistan in the ODI world cup. The T20 World cup saw 5 Indian victories against the nation across the border.

You reckon @ImRo45 has got his crowd calculations right? ?????? #TeamIndia #INDvsPAK #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/2UuvME2qq6

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 16, 2019

Rohit Sharma was presented the man of the match award.

India will face Afghanistan next at Southampton on 22nd June, Saturday, While Pakistan is Scheduled to face South Africa on the 23rd at Lord's.

Match Facts

#Manchester #CWC2019 - Pakistan opt to bowl

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni(w), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah

In: Vijay Shankar | Out: Shikhar Dhawan

Pakistan (Playing XI): Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed(w/c), Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir

In: Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim | Out: Shaheen Afridi, Asif Ali

- Kumaran Kumanan

Images : ICC BCCI TheRealPCB