Birmingham, June 16: In a match where there were numerous rain-interruptions, Pakistan were bundle out for 165 in 39.4 overs due to a disciplined effort by the Indian bowling unit led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who returned with figures of two for 19. India won the toss and chose to field first. It was a decision that surprised the experts – the pitch looked like it was slow and would get slower as the match would go on. Basically put, run-scoring would not be easy.

But India’s bowlers made the most of the rain interruptions – they kept their concentration even as the Pakistan batsmen lost their focus, to keep the opposition to 165 runs. The revised target according to the D/L method is 168, which was then further reduced to a 22-over game now and India’s target was 102.

Shikhar Dhawan (48) and Rohit Sharma (18) put on 58 runs for the first wicket and that was all India needed to do to snuff out Pakistan’s hopes.

India had already won Group B, Pakistan were already eliminated. So in the eyes of many this was a match about pride. But for India it was actually much more. It was about keeping the momentum going. So far, the conditions have favoured India – but it doesn’t take long for that to change and the confidence to drop.