
The match started as a full fifty-over encounter, but shortly afterwards rains made it forty-overs. Pakistan could not even last that many overs and got all out for a paltry 165 with two balls to spare. D/L method revised the target to 168 to win for India.
The Champions Indian opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma started in style and looked to be in no trouble at all when another rain interruption made the target 157 to win in 36 overs. Then a major rain interruption and D/L reduced the overs to just 22 and the target 102 to win. Dhawan missed his fifty by 2 runs and shone as ever making 48 entertaining runs in 41 balls. Rohit was the first wicket to fall for India. Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik took their team to victory never showing any sign of complacency. The terrific form of Karthik is a good sign for Team India. The Scorecard:
India kept its Group B slate clean winning all the matches and emerging as the top team. They have also bagged the unique honor of being voted the best fielding side of the tournament too so far. Who would be their rival in the semis is yet to be decided as the Group A is still wide open and no team has made it to the semis so far.
Rains have been playing the spoilsport of late in the ICC Champions Trophy matches. But for a change it proved lucky for the ‘chokers’ of big tournaments South Africa on Friday. For the first time since the 2003 World Cup disaster South Africa got a favor from the D/L calculations. It was again the case of just one ball in that match cut short to 31 overs each. At the end of 26 overs West Indies were ahead of South Africa as per D/L at 190 for five. If the first ball of the 27th over was left alone West Indies could still have won in terms of losing less number of wickets. But Pollard played a wild shot and got out, and the rains came pouring down. D/L calculations ruled the match tied and South Africa sailed into the semis thanks to their better net run-rate. A thoroughly disappointed West Indies could not still blame Pollard because at that particular moment he could not possibly have anticipated rains.
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