Adelaide, February 16 – India continued their World Cup domination of arch-rival Pakistan, extending their winning streak to six with a lopsided 76-run victory on Sunday in front of a crowd at the Adelaide Oval that quite easily could have been transplanted from the subcontinent.
India hadn’t won a competitive match in two months in Australia leading up to the World Cup, but returned to form suddenly on the bat of Virat Kohli, who ended a run of single-digit innings to score 107 and guide his team to 300 for 7.
In the process, he became the first Indian batsman to score a century against Pakistan in the World Cup. He went to the crease with the total at 34 for 1 and shared partnerships of 129 with Shikhar Dhawan (73) and 110 with Suresh Raina (74) before he was caught behind off Sohail Khan (5 for 55) in the 46th over, triggering a flurry of late wickets.
Pakistan were all out in for 224. Raina, who clobbered three sixes and five boundaries in his 56-ball innings, was next out as India lost their last four wickets for 16 runs and added just 27 in the last five overs as Pakistan clawed back into the game with some determined bowling.
After dismissing Kohli and Raina, and after Wahab Riaz bowled Ravi Jedaja (3) in the 49th, Sohail Khan started the last over by having MS Dhoni (18) caught off a top edge and bowling Ajinkya Rahane (0).
Pakistan’s chase started badly, losing veteran Younis Khan (6) with the total at 11 and fizzled out after losing three wickets for one run in nine deliveries – including opener Ahmed Shezhad (47) – to slump to 103 for 5.
When Shahid Afridi (22) sliced a high catch to Kohli off Mohammad Shami (4 for 35) to make the total 149 for 6, groups of Pakistanis in the 41,587 crowd started filing out of the stadium. Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq posted the only half-century of the innings and was the ninth wicket to fall, caught off Shami for 76 from 84 balls.
The first World Cup meeting between the fierce rivals was in 1992 – the last time the tournament was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand — and India started their winning sequence in head-to-heads from there.
Sachin Tendulkar, who played in the previous five wins but retired in 2013, compared the intensity of the Indo-Pak World Cup clashes with the level of a final. But this game was rarely in Pakistan’s grasp after skipper Dhoni won the toss and batted in ideal conditions.
It followed a trend – India had won the toss in four of the previous five World Cup meetings, and Pakistan struggled in pursuit of a target. The match was advertised as a sellout and organisers were expecting a record TV audience, but it didn’t fulfill its billing.
Kohli reached triple figures with a single off Afridi to start the 43rd over for his 22nd ODI hundred, and his second in World Cups. His innings was not without incident – a mix-up led to Dhawan’s run out at the non-striker’s end in the 30th over and he had a reprieve on 76 when part-time wicketkeeper Umar Akmal put down a regulation chance off Haris Sohail’s bowling.
“It’s probably one of the biggest I’ve had in my career so far,” Kohli said of his innings. “Amazing way for us to kick off the World Cup. It’s a high-pressure game. Good to get that win under the belt.”
While he didn’t hit double-figures in the recent tri-series against Australia and England, Kohli struck a rich vein of runs in the Test series against Australia, starting with centuries in both innings of the opening match at Adelaide.
India will be relying on another big innings from Kohli when it takes on leading contender South Africa in Melbourne next Sunday. Pakistan, the 1992 champion, will play two-time champion West Indies in Christchurch on Saturday.
-INDIA TODAY
