ICC Champions Trophy: India plunder 319/3

India romped to 319 for three in allotted 48 overs in their ICC Champions Trophy fixture against archrivals Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham today.

Opener Rohit Sharma scored 91 off 119 deliveries before being run out while Shikhar Dhawan added 68. Yuvraj Singh (53), Virat Kohli (77 not out)  and Hardik Pandiya (19 not out) then finished with a flurry as India plundered 119 runs off the last 61 deliv 

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and elected to field. Sarfraz said at toss: " Is a good pitch and won't change much. India-Pakistan is a pressure game, hopefully we play as a free game. Our batting is much better, Faheem Ashraf misses out. Shadab is playing".

Earlier, the mind games had already started as India and Pakistan face each other in their opening fixture of the ICC Champions Trophy.

Few encounters in sport spell ‘pressure’ as loudly as an India-Pakistan cricket match and context does not always come from what is at stake but ironically there is always a lot at stake.

While India-Pakistan matches have always captivated the imagination of the avid cricket fan, these encounters have been few and far between, especially in recent years.

The bilateral relationship has been frequently interrupted by poisonous political atmosphere between these two nations. Cricketing ties have suffered as a result and until 1978 tours were being cancelled on a regular basis due to rising political tension.

Pakistan will be confident ahead of their match as, while they have never beaten India in ICC World Cups, they do have a winning record against their archrivals in the Champions Trophy, having won two of their three encounters. 

The two sides last met in Kolkata during the World T20 last year, when hosts India outplayed Pakistan in a group match.

The mind games started ahead of the big game. While the Kohli-Kumble relationship has hogged the headlines ahead of the big game, opponents Pakistan came out to their press conference with a show of a ‘united front’, with Sarfraz and Mickey Arthur likening the relationship between captain and coach to a marriage. 

The coach and captain hinted that chaos in the Indian camp could be detrimental to India’s success.

India have a strong bowling line-up this time around. Bhuvneswar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin have all featured for India in recent times and now they have added the promising Mohammed Shami to their pace attack.

The line-up with four quicks has already decimated New Zealand and Bangladesh in the warm-up games of the Champions Trophy.

India are looking to retain the Trophy after their success in the 2013 edition of the tournament.

Mind games

Harbhajan Singh wrote in his column for icc-cricket.com: “As far as the mind games are concerned, this is not a boxing match where you go to a press conference and talk about things. I don’t think that the things said before the game matter much. Simply put, the team that doesn’t crack under pressure on the field will come out on top. I’m confident that India will win on Sunday because it has a far superior line-up.”

Let the battle begin.