World Cup 2019: Three tactics from Virat Kohli that were instrumental in India's win over Pakistan
Another humongous India vs Pakistan clash at the World Cup stage has ended in one-sided contest. India beat Pakistan by 89 runs due to the DLS method. This is India's seventh successive win over Pakistan at the World Cup stage and this loss would have really dampened the mode around the Pakistani camp.
Winning the toss on a wicket that looked a bit dry, Sarfaraz Khan elected to bowl and batting first, India scored 336 runs for the loss of 5 wickets with Rohit Sharma being the top scorer with 140 runs off just 113 balls. Chasing a mammoth total, Pakistan were never in the game and after rain curtailed the game to 40 overs and target revised to 302, Pakistan scored 212 runs for the loss of 6 wickets.
Coming to start of the match, Rohit and KL Rahul got India off to a flyer with a 136 run opening partnership but Rahul departed after scoring a well played 57 runs off 77 balls. Then, Virat Kohli and Rohit upped the anti before the Indian vice-captain departed after scoring a signature daddy hundred.
Towards the end, cameos from Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav and Vijay Shankar, India reached 336 runs. Batting second, Pakistan got pegged back with an early wicket and after a good partnership between Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan lost wickets in bulk and eventually lost the game by 89 runs due to the DLS method .
So, in this slideshow, we take a look at the three tactics employed by Kohli that helped India win the match.
#3 Team Selection
On an overcast day in Manchester, many experts were thinking that Mohammed Shami might be included in the team as the third seamer but that didn't happen, instead Virat went with his trusted wrist spinners and Vijay Shankar as the extra seam option and safe to say, it worked brilliantly.
India seemed to have all the bases covered and even when Bhuvneshwar Kumar was ruled out of the match early on, the Indian bowling department didn't break a sweat. Also, we didn't see a single over from Kedar Jadhav which is a rarity these days. All in all, Virat got his team selection bang on.
Also read - World cup winners list