On This Day in 2019: Dominant India beat Pakistan for seventh time in World Cup history

Few rivalries in sport generate as much fervour as an India vs Pakistan clash in cricket. It was on 16 June in 2019 when India clashed with Pakistan in Manchester in a crucial tie at the Cricket World Cup. Coming into this match, India had defeated Pakistan in every match of the World Cup and looked far more superior on paper as compared to their neighbours.

Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and asked India to bat first – a decision that he started questioning after just 5-7 overs into the match. Indian opener Rohit Sharma was in the zone and dominated Pakistan’s bowling attack with a powerful innings of 140 runs in just 113 balls. He was given great support by captain Virat Kohli and opener KL Rahul as India posted 336 runs in their allotted 50 overs.

Rohit and Kl Rahul sussed the conditions and forged a superb partnership worth 136 runs for the first wicket. Rahul was dismissed for a steady 57 off 78. After his dismissal, Virat Kohli took charge of the proceedings and played a dominant innings 77 runs off 65 balls. In the process, he also became the fastest batter to cross 11,000 runs in ODIs.

In response, Pakistan looked good for the initial part of the chase, but once Imam-ul-Haq was trapped by Vijay Shankar, the game turned. Kuldeep Yadav got the better of Babar Azam with a superb delivery and Hardik Pandya’s twin strikes in two balls saw the game tilt in India’s favour.

During the chase, rain did threaten to dampen the spirits, but the match resumed and the overs were curtailed to 40 and Pakistan needed 302 runs to win. When the match started, they needed 136 runs off just 30 balls, but they fell short by runs.

With this dominant win, India kept their unbeaten record in World Cup intact and progressed through the semi-finals where they were beaten by New Zealand.