Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo.
Venue – Adelaide Oval, Adelaide [February 15, 2015].
No cricket match comes closer to an India-Pakistan game. The stakes get even higher when they take down each other in the 50-over World Cup. Statistically, Pakistan has struggled to register a single win against us in the 50-over marquee event. However, the drama, nerves and thrill in this game are enormous. Moreover, it's not just the sporting rivalry, but it goes beyond that. The history, the politics – everything comes into the Radcliffe Line Rivalry. This post is about one such match played between the two sides Down Under.
Australia and New Zealand were co-hosting the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. Interestingly, both India and Pakistan were placed in the same group. Moreover, the much-coveted India-Pakistan match turned out to be the first game for the sides in the tournament. So, the pressure was huge. After all, both the teams were eager to start their World Cup campaign with a bang.
Pakistan came in as the favorites because they were the winners of the previous encounter, which happened a year ago in the Asia Cup. Apart from that, they were also successful in winning the ODI Series 2-1 against India in India. Even though the Men in Blue did beat them in the ICC Champions Trophy, their performance in the last year has been below satisfactory. Hence the pressure was surely upon Indians. Many felt that Adelaide could see the first Pakistani win over India in a World Cup event.
In a high-pressure game, it was Indian Captain MS Dhoni who won the toss and decided to bat first on what looked like a perfect batting pitch. The Men in Blue started slowly and steadily. However, the Pakistanis got an early breakthrough in the form of Rohit Sharma, who was caught at 15 by Captain Misbah-ul-Haq off Sohail Khan's short-pitch delivery. Rohit tried to play a pull shot but got the timing wrong, which resulted in an easy catch.
Virat Kohli was the new man on the crease as the Indian scorecard read 34/1 in 7.3 overs. Kohli took his time to settle, and in the process, he even played a risky shot which could have marked his end, but Yasir Shah dropped the most important catch of the match. The chance was difficult, but if the catch would have been taken, the course of the game as well as the World Cup could have changed, as Kohli at that time was batting on just 3 runs.
After this catch drop, Kohli unleashed himself before the arch-rivals. Not only did he stitch valuable partnerships first with Dhawan and then with Raina, but he also scored his second World Cup hundred at the biggest of stages. In an innings which lasted for more than 2.5 hours, Kohli scored a magnificent 107 off 126 deliveries. Interestingly, this Kohli innings had only 8 boundaries, which implies that he scored the 75 runs by running between the wickets.
Apart from Kohli, Dhawan scored a gritty 73 off 76 deliveries, and Suresh Raina scored a quickfire 74 off 56 balls as the Indians posted a huge total of 300/7 at the end of 50 overs. For the Men in Green, Sohail Khan picked up 5 wickets as every other bowler struggled to make an impact on the Adelaide deck.
In response, the Pakistanis got off to a cautious start, as they were 102/2 in 23 overs. However, the 24th over turned out to be a game changer as Umesh Yadav dismissed both Ahmed Shehzad and Sohaib Maqsood and reduced the Pakistanis to 102/4. Shahid Afridi did play a few shots, but he too was dismissed for 22 as the Men in Green kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. Captain Misbah-ul-Haq (76) kept on fighting alone, but his efforts were insufficient as the Pakistanis were eventually bowled out for 224 runs in 47 overs.
The Indians won the match comfortably by 76 runs and started their World Cup campaign with a bang. Interestingly, the Men in Blue marched on an unbeaten streak in this tournament before losing the semi-final clash to the eventual champions and hosts, Australia, in Sydney.
However, the 2015 World Cup is a tournament which brings nostalgia among the cricket fans all over the world. Among the most cherished moments from the event, Virat Kohli's 100 in Adelaide is definitely one of them.
To watch the Highlights of the Game, Click Here.
To watch the Innings of Virat Kohli, Click Here.
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