India beat Pakistan by eight wickets, surge to top of table

BIRMINGHAM: This tournament had turned out to be bad for Pakistan, but Messrs Duckworth and Lewis made it worse on Saturday. Their big-ticket clash against India was supposed to be a last chance at redemption but the match was marred by unrelenting bursts of shower and a painfully prolonged end. India, however, still prevailed with ease. The 50-over match was first cut down to 40 overs a side. That was curtailed further when India began their chase of a revised target of 168 after Pakistan had scored 165 all out in 39.4 overs batting first. Subsequently, another heavy burst of shower further reduced the target to just 39 runs off 63 balls, and India chased it down with 17 balls and eight wickets remaining. The match, meant to be a dead rubber, was played like a final - the way fans had expected and the occasion was built-up. But in the end, Pakistan's misery only continued while India bagged another win to top the table. They will head to the semifinal in Cardiff riding on greater confidence. It was a toss any captain would've desperately wanted to win. With clouds constantly hovering over Edgbaston and the possibility of a shower always around, the idea of batting second on a flat wicket, in conditions where sun tends to come out later in the day, always looked a better choice. But Misbah-ul Haq, who'll have many questions to answer when he gets home, lost the toss of the coin to his Indian counterpart MS Dhoni. It was a shaky start for Pakistan with Bhuvneshwar Kumar seizing the early initiative to have opener Nasir Jamshed caught at second slip. The ball had moved off the pitch, but not so blatantly as to shock the batsmen. Scoring freely seemed a possibility when Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal worked on a 46-run stand for the second wicket and the middle-order - consisting of Asad Shafiq, Misbah and Umar Amin - kept adding to their tally. In fact, such was the strokeplay between these batsmen that from being on the mat as early as in the third over, Pakistan posted a 100 runs in the next 145 balls and from there kept accelerating at almost six runs an over. Twice, rain marred their innings but not to the extent that conditions changed or the overs got further reduced. Barring Ravindra Jadeja, once again the pick of India's attack, R Ashwin and an improved Umesh Yadav, India plucked wickets at regular intervals and an amazing set of fielders made the proceedings more difficult for Pakistan. Dhoni once again made impressive use of the DRS system, serving another reminder to the Indian board of the manner in which it has helped the team here. Meanwhile, only the grass turned greener for Pakistan as rains twice lashed the outfield just when Misbah's men began facing the pressure against an in-form India. When the chase began, the target - after calculating Pakistan's scoring rate - was set at 168 and openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma appeared to continue from where they'd left off against the West Indies. Scores of Pakistan supporters who had walked in on Saturday morning began filing out early, sensing a lost cause. The aggressive Dhawan pulled and cut with immaculate timing and ease as the Pak attack got blown apart.   Source: TOI