India vs Pakistan ICC Cricket World Cup: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul stitch historic century stand

The India vs Pakistan World Cup clash is a marquee clash for the tournament. The 2019 edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup is no different as the hostility and tension reached a fever pitch. Pakistan chose to bowl in overcast conditions against India on a pitch that had a tinge of green and was hard. However, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul weathered the initial hostility to stitch an opening partnership in excess of fifty. Mohammad Amir was the only Pakistan bowler who looked threatening but he was let down by lack of support from his opening bowler Hasan Ali.

Rohit broke the shackles by hammering a boundary while Rahul got going with a boundary off Amir. The sixth over swung momentum completely towards India as Rohit crunched a short ball from Hasan Ali to the deep point fence and then muscled a short ball over deep midwicket. The duo made good progress and they stitched a 100-plus opening stand. Rohit, in the process, smashed his 43rd fifty in grand style by hammering two fours and a six off Shadab Khan.

This was the third time an Indian opening pair had put together a partnership of over fifty in World Cup contests against Pakistan but they carried on and the duo of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma became the first Indian opening duo to stitch a 100-plus opening stand. The highest so far has been 90 in the 1996 World Cup encounter at Bangalore between Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sachin Tendulkar. The next fifty-plus opening stand was also involving Tendulkar and it was in the 2003 World Cup. The partnership with Sehwag was worth 53 runs and they got in five overs as India chased down 273. Tendulkar ended with a brilliant 98 off 75 balls.

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

• India has never lost to Pakistan in World Cups.
• India has a 6-0 head-to-head record in World Cups.
• Pakistan lost to Australia and West Indies in this tournament.

RELATED