Pakistan completely outplay India to end World Cup losing streak

(Cricket news) Pakistan have finally got their first ever World Cup win against India. Pakistan has lost all 11, 50-over and 20-over matches against India before this one. They couldn't have picked a better way to do it as they completely dominated India winning by 10 wickets. Pakistan have set the tone for the rest of the tournament by this victory.

Pakistan elected to bowl first after winning the toss, Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled a magnificent spell where he dismissed both KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma with unplayable inswingers from over the wicket. Surya Kumar Yadav tried to insert some positivity but was soon dismissed on 11 by Hasan Ali. With wickets falling at the other end Virat Kohli managed to hold his end. The Indian skipper got support from Rishabh Pant who scored a well made 39 off 30 where he hit 2 fours and 2 one handed sixes. He failed to pick up Shadab Khan's wrong one and top edged his attempted sweep. Virat Kohli made an invaluable 57 off 49 balls to anchor the Indian innings but fell at the death to Shaheen Afridi who ended his magnificent spell for 3/31. Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya failed to make an impact as they hit only 3 boundaries combined. India ended their innings on 151/7.

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The target was 152 but the Pakistani openers Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam didn't need any help whatsoever. Rizwan scored 79* off 55 balls while his skipper scored 68* off 52. The pair fired Pakistan to a 10 wicket win with 13 balls to spare. The 5 Indian bowlers couldn't trouble the Pakistani openers at all. Mohammad Shami was nowhere near his best as he gave away 43 runs in 3.5. Despite the target not being as high as the Indian's would've wanted the bowling to be better.

The Indian camp have a lot to think about in the coming week before their match against New Zealand on 31st October. Virat Kohli has already said that he isn't gonna panic after the 1st game and change around his combination. Having said that, some changes need to happen. It is very clear that having just 5 bowlers isn't going to work for India. Pakistan on the other hand play New Zealand on Tuesday. Babar Azam will not be keen on making any unforced change in his side. A victory against New Zealand will be a very big leap towards the Semi Final qualification.

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