DUBAI: Skipper Rohit Sharma and his deputy Shikhar Dhawan showed their mastery in white ball cricket with stylish hundreds as India took a giant stride towards summit clash of Asia Cup with a comfortable nine-wicket win against Pakistan here Sunday.
This is India’s biggest win against Pakistan in terms of number of wickets lost. Chasing a target of 238, Rohit (111 no off 119 balls) and Dhawan (114 off 100 balls) flayed the Pakistan attack adding 210 runs for the opening stand to seal their second lopsided victory in the tournament in only 39.3 overs.
It was Rohit’s third successive fifty 50 plus score in the tournament with sequence being 52, 83 no and 111 no. Dhawan’s is even more impressive with 127, 46, 40 and 114.
One of the most fearsome opening pairs in ODI format, Rohit-Dhawan combination were helped by some ordinary bowling from Pakistan with equally sloppy fielding compounding their woes.
Their understanding in 22 yards is exemplary and as Dhawan teed off witha flurry of boundaries, Rohit was ready to hold one end up. Dhawan, who is comfortable on pitches where thee is lack of movement played some lovely drives on the up. He also pulled with ferocity and cut anything wide. Rohit’s first significant shot was a pulled six off rookie pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi. Dhawan also gave the same treatment to an woefully out of form Mohammed Aamir (0/41 in 5 overs). Dhawan’s 50 came off 56 balls with a pulled boundary while Rohit took 65 balls to reach the mini milestone. However after completing their fifties, it was a role reversal with the skipper suddenly shifting gears as he hit leg-spinner Shahdab Khan for two sixes over deep mid-wicket.
Dhawan reached his 15th hundred with a cover drive off Afridi and celebrated it with a huge six and a boundary before being needlessly run-out. His innings had 16 fours and two sixes. Just like his half-century, Rohit scampered home for a double to complete his 19th ton and on the way also completed 7000 runs in ODI format.
By the time the match ended Rohit had hit seven fous and four sixes. Earlier, Pakistan produced an improved batting performance, led by India’s nemesis Shoaib Malik, scoring 237 for 7 in 50 overs.
Veteran Malik scored 78 off 90 balls and added an invaluable 107 runs for the fourth wicket with skipper Sarfraz Ahmed (44 off 66 balls) to enable Pakistan post a total on board to give their bowlers a chance to defend which proved not enough at the end. (PTI)
