Cricket's extravaganza, the World Cup, opened in England this week. All eyes were on the Indian team which faced pakistan. Both nations have their daggers drawn on many issues and the politics of enmity invariably enters into cricket as well. india and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series since 2008. This match was significant as both teams considered it a matter o honor to win. The Indians won the match decisively and Imran Khan the great Pakistani cricketer, turned politician, commented that it was painful to see Pakistan lose to India without a fight.
The match which was played on 4 June 17 at tThis was India's opening match and was played at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Sunday. was extensively covered by the media.
India bat
The Indian captain set the ball rolling and won the toss. He elected to bat and India started in great fashion. Using some lusty stroke play. they reached 319 for 3. It was a great start and the Pakistan bowlers seemed clueless. It is a good score for limited overs cricket. The total was reached despite two interruptions by rain.
Duckworth-Lewis system
The Duckworth-Lewis system went into play. This is the resetting of targets in interrupted one-day cricket matches and Pakistan was set a target of 291 in 41 overs. The Pakistanis made an attempt but just reached 164 in 33.4 overs and therefore lost the match by 127 runs.
The man of the match, Yuvraj Singh played a blistering innings hitting 53 off 32 balls. The Indian captain remained unbeaten at 81. Rohit Sharma scored 91 off 119 balls and was the top scorer. The Pakistani batting was just not equal to the task and failed to get going. Pakistan seems to be dogged by bad luck as they have lost all encounters with India in world cup matches.
Controversy
The World Cup match had generated tremendous interest in India and Pakistan but India were worthy winners though their fielding was a bit rusty. Aside from cricket, the match generated some controversy when tax evader Vijay Mallya now on bail over a money laundering case and facing extradition proceedings to India attended the match.
He was seen talking to Sunil Gavaskar though the Indian team avoided him.
Indian and Pakistani fans cheered their teams but the Pakistani crowd became subdued as the wickets began to tumble. India is the world champion and has started their defense of the title in fine fashion. They are the favorite of the bookies and vast sums are being wagered on the Indian team winning the world cup.
last word
Back home tensions are escalating in Kashmir as the Indian army kills scores of terrorist in Kashmir, many of whom had infiltrated from Pakistan. Possibly politics will always be linked to cricket in the Indian and Pakistan sphere.
