COLOMBO: India defeated Pakistan in the rain-marred Super 4s match of the Asia Cup 2023 on Monday (September 11).
The high-profile match was forced to the reserve day on Monday (September 11) after rain affected play on Sunday (September 10), soon after the match began.
India beat Pakistan by a massive 228 runs to collect two points in the Super 4 stage.
It was India’s biggest win margin, in terms of runs, against Pakistan in ODIs.
With this massive victory, India jumped to the top of the table in Super 4s stage based on a superior net run-rate, with Sri Lanka and Pakistan also having two points.
India resumed their innings on Monday on 147.2 in 24.1 overs with overnight batsmen Virat Kohli and KL Rahul at the crease.
During the course of the innings Kohli and Rahul scored their respective centuries and stitched an unbeaten over 200-run partnership.
Thanks to their belligerent innings, India reached a formidable total of 356 for the loss of two wickets in their stipulated 50 overs.
Chasing the mammoth target, Pakistani battling line-up suffered early blows as opener Imam-ul-Haq fell prey to Jasprit Bumrah in the fifth over of the innings.
Hardik Pandya cleaned up Pakistan captain Babar Azam, reducing the team’s total to 44 for 2.
Rain again arrived after Hardik’s over and interrupted the match for another long spell.
When the match resumed after the rain break, it was an all Kuldeep Yadav show.
Kuldeep kept on chipping away wickets at regular intervals to finish with impressive figures of 5 for 25 in 8 overs.
It was his second five-wicket haul in ODIs.
Pakistan ended their chase at 128 for 8 as pacers Haris Rauf, who did not bowl on Monday, and Naseem Shah did not come out to bat due to niggles.