Player of the Match
Player of the Match

7.13pm Alright, folks. It's been a pleasure bringing you this game. Would have been nicer if we'd had a closer finish and it had lived up to all the India-Pakistan hype, but cricket is cricket. A shout out to all the fans from both sides and the neutrals, who sent in a massive load of comments, and almost all of it was good-natured. Great to see. Anyway, it's Australia-Bangladesh tomorrow. Do join us for that, as usual. Until then, goodbye!

Virat Kohli: "With the bat and ball, right up there - I would say nine out of 10. In the field we were still 6 today. Very strong performance, we've taken the confidence from the practice games. We need to tighten our fielding to compete hard against the best teams. Quite delighted with all batsmen chipping in with runs. Shikhar and Rohit - last time we won here, the opening partnership was crucial. Rohit took some time going, but he's coming back from an injury, and international cricket is different to IPL. I felt like a club batsman while playing alongside Yuvi, the way he was hitting the ball. And Hardik, 18 off five balls, was outstanding. We went with four seamers purely because we're playing Pakistan. They play spin really well, and most of them are right-handers. In pressure situations, to have mid-on, mid-off up and hit hard lengths, gives us an advantage. Against other sides, we might use two spinners, depending on their strengths."

Sarfraz Ahmed: "Everything was under control after 40 overs, but we lost the plot in the last eight. Credit to India's batsmen. They scored 124 in those last eight, and the momentum went to India. I think we need to stick together and control our bowling rate, especially last few overs."

Yuvraj Singh is the Player of the Match. "I thought we all batted really well," he says. "The openers gave us a good start, Virat finished well, and it gave me the opportunity to go and attack. You just have to go and back yourself, and tell the opposition that you're here to attack. I was lucky I was dropped, but I capitalised and I was hitting it well. I finished well. India-Pakistan is always a big game, and I think it has set us up really well. Hopefully we'll take this confidence into the next game against Sri Lanka."

Benny: "This will hurt nearly as much as how Dobell felt when he was left hanging by Younis Khan" -- Haha! Greatest handshake of all time!

Alok: "I feel I played an important role in this match. Every-time I submitted a comment here, wickets fell. This happened at least 6 times."

Robyn: "India at qualification cut-off ranked as No.1, Pakistan as No.8 - seems true based on the performance."

Sami: "Out of the box thing would be to trust players who have performed well in the domestic circuit. Playing Fakhar Zaman instead of Ahmed Shehzad, Haris Sohail instead of Hafeez, Faheem Ashraf instead of Shadab Khan would be an out of the box thing, giving chances to people who deserve it. Playing old tried and failed experienced player will never get Pak anymore. If you keep doing what you did before, you will keep getting what you always got!!" -- A little harsh on Shadab, no?

6.56pm A long-drawn, frequently interrupted match, but only the weather really interrupted India's march today. They've won by 124 runs, and the margin simply doesn't lie. As is usually the case, Pakistan bowled better than they batted, but there were too many holes even in that bowling performance - Wahab Riaz, in particular, did not justify his inclusion ahead of Junaid Khan. Chasing a difficult, revised target was always going to be a steep test for Pakistan's batting - they didn't look like getting close at any point.

India, on the other hand, were simply better right through. A century opening stand, every member of the top four getting a half-century, an explosive finish, and no real weak links with the ball - none that this Pakistan side could exploit, at any rate. India's record against Pakistan in ICC tournaments is now 13-2.

33.4
W
Yadav to Hasan Ali, OUT, shortish, angled into the body, and that is that. Wahab Riaz is not going to bat here. Cramped for room, beaten for pace, and he aims an aimless flick at the ball and loops the simplest of catches to Dhawan at midwicket

Hasan Ali c Dhawan b Yadav 0 (3m 2b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

33.3
0
Yadav to Hasan Ali, no run, back of a length outside off, chopped towards point
33.2
W
Yadav to Mohammad Amir, OUT, and another. Umesh gets his second. Back of a length, slanting across to off stump. Clears his front leg and looks to hit over cover, ends up hitting it flat, at catchable height

Mohammad Amir c Jadhav b Yadav 9 (16m 16b 0x4 0x6) SR: 56.25

33.1
2
Yadav to Mohammad Amir, 2 runs, length ball on middle and off. Looks to get forward and push into the covers, ends up inside-edging through midwicket

END OF OVER:
33 | 3 Runs | PAK: 162/7 (127 runs required from 48 balls, RR: 4.90, RRR: 15.87)

  • Mohammad Amir7 (14b)
  • Shadab Khan14 (16b)
  • Jasprit Bumrah5-0-23-0
  • Umesh Yadav7-1-28-1
32.6
1
Bumrah to Mohammad Amir, 1 run, shortish, at the batsman's hip, tucked away to long leg
32.5
0
Bumrah to Mohammad Amir, no run, full on middle and leg, punched to mid-off
32.4
1
Bumrah to Shadab Khan, 1 run, short, angling into the body, and Shadab was in a very awkward position, late to react. Flaps at it in the end - it was more reflex than a considered stroke - and manages to play it down towards long leg. Throw hits direct at the bowler's end, but Shadab is safely home
32.3
0
Bumrah to Shadab Khan, no run, shortish on off stump, pulled to mid-on. Was on to him quicker than he expected

India dominant

12-2

India's win-loss record against Pakistan in the three major tournaments - the World Cup, Champions Trophy, and World T20

Huge win

124

The margin of victory, in terms of runs. Only once have India beaten Pakistan by a greater margin in ODIs, by 140 runs in Dhaka in 2008

Dots galore

72

Dot balls played by Pakistan in their first 20 overs, compared to India's 61. Azhar Ali played 37 of those 72 dots

Feast in the last four

72

Runs India scored in the last four overs, 17 more than they scored in 14 overs between the 22nd and the 35th

Expensive Wahab

10.03

Wahab Riaz's economy rate (87 in 8.4 overs), the most expensive for any spell of five or more overs in Champions trophy history

Solid top order

3

Instances of India's top four all going past 50 in an ODI innings. The two previous occasions were both v Eng - Headingley 2007, and Indore 2006

Middle-overs slowdown

55

Runs scored by India in 14 overs between the 22nd and the 35th, a run rate of 3.93. In the first 21 overs, they scored at a rate of 5.76

Rohit's best

68

Previous highest score for Rohit against Pakistan, which came in Asia Cup 2012. He has five fifties in 12 ODIs v Pak.

Prolific pair

3

No. of century partnerships between Rohit and Dhawan in Champions Trophy, the most by any pair. Gayle-Chanderpaul and Gibbs-Smith had 2 such stands.

Lucky toss?

3

No. of tosses Pakistan have won against India in the last 10 International meetings, including today's. Pak had won both the previous games after winning the toss.

A Win due since long

2009

Last time Pakistan defeated India in an ICC tournament, in Champions Trophy in Centurion. Since then, India have won all the six encounters.

ICC Champions Trophy (ICC KnockOut)

Group A
TeamMWLPTNRR
ENG33061.045
BAN31130
AUS3012-0.992
NZ3021-1.058
Group B
TeamMWLPTNRR
IND32141.37
PAK3214-0.68
SA31220.167
SL3122-0.798