ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Bhuvneshwar Kumar to not play any further part in Pakistan clash due to hamstring injury

India had put up a fabulous display in their ICC Cricket World Cup clash against Pakistan in Manchester on Sunday. Rohit Sharma blasted his 24^th century and his second in the 2019 edition of the World Cup while Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli blasted his 51^st fifty and became the quickest to 11000 ODI runs, overtaking the previous record set by Sachin Tendulkar. India notched up 335/6, their highest score in World Cups against Pakistan and Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side had an uphill task on their hand against an Indian bowling line-up which included two world-class pacers in Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Bhuvneshwar opened the bowling with Bumrah and both generated swing and bounce from the wicket. In the fourth ball of the fourth over bowled by Bhuvneshwar, the right-arm pacer bowled a good ball which beat Imam-ul-Haq but he was seen feeling his left hamstring. Bhuvneshwar was stretching his hamstring with Dhoni and a few others talking to him. In the interim, umpire Bruce Oxenford called for the hammer to repair the landing area. Apparently, Bhuvi slipped while delivering the ball in those footholes and he walked off slightly angry. Minutes later, the Indian team management confirmed that Bhuvneshwar was feeling tightness in his left hamstring and would play no further part in the match.

However, the injury provided a silver lining as Vijay Shankar struck with his first ball in the World Cup by trapping Imam-ul-Haq with a good length delivery that swung back in and it struck Imam on leg stump.

Pakistan has never won a World Cup contests against India ever since both teams started playing in 1992. In Sydney, India won their first encounter while they knocked Pakistan out in the quarterfinal of the 1996 World Cup. In 1999, they defeated Pakistan in the super six stages while in 2003, they registered a win in the league stages. In 2011, they knocked Pakistan out of the tournament with a win in the semi-final while in 2015, they won by a big margin in Adelaide.

India is currently unbeaten in the 2019 tournament while Pakistan has suffered losses to West Indies and Australia with their game against Sri Lanka abandoned due to rain.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Pakistan lost to West Indies and Australia in 2019 World Cup.
• India are currently unbeaten in 2019 World Cup.
• India has a 6-0 scoreline against Pakistan in World Cups.

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