The 12th match of World Cup 2023 is being played between India vs Pakistan. India won the toss and decided to bowl first. Both the teams seem to be in excellent form. Bumrah started the bowling for India. He gave only four runs in his first over. Shafiq and Imam started the innings as openers for Pakistan. India has not lost to Pakistan even once in the India vs Pakistan World Cup match played before today. Both the teams have faced each other seven times in the ODI World Cup and India has defeated Pakistan in all the matches. In the seven matches played, 300+ runs have been scored only twice. Captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to restrict them to low runs. At the same time, fans have high expectations from their star player Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli can score a century
Virat Kohli is looking in very good form in the World Cup. In the first match, Virat played an excellent inning of 85 runs in 116 balls against Australia. India’s three wickets fell for just two runs. After which Virat, along with Rahul, once again controlled the innings and won the match. In the second match, Virat played an unbeaten inning of 55 runs. Fans say that if Afghanistan had given India a target of more runs, Virat would have scored a century in that match also. A fan said before the match that if Pakistan is interested in any batsman then it is Virat Kohli and Virat will definitely score a century against Pakistan.
Pakistan’s first wicket in the World Cup goes to Siraj
Siraj took the first wicket of Pakistan in the India vs Pakistan match. From Pakistan side, both the opening batsmen started the innings with brilliant performance. The team had scored 41 runs in 7.5 balls. After which Siraj dismissed Shafiq through LBW in the next ball. Siraj had bowled very well in the Asia Cup also. He created a new world record against Sri Lanka by taking 5 wickets in just 16 balls. This is also the best performance of his ODI career. Due to the lethal bowling of Siraj, the Sri Lankan team, playing first in the final, was limited to only 50 runs in 15.2 overs.
India vs Pakistan match watched live by millions of viewers
The excitement about the India vs Pakistan match was visible from the very beginning. According to Book My Show, an online ticket selling site, as soon as they started the live sale of tickets, all the tickets were sold out within an hour. There was a crowd of spectators outside the ground since the morning of the India-Pakistan match. 1.30 lakh people enjoyed the match sitting inside the ground, while 2.3 crore people enjoyed the live telecast of the first innings of India vs Pakistan on Hotstar. To watch today’s match, many viewers enjoyed the match for free on Star Sports at home.
300+ runs can be scored for the third time
In the seven previous matches played between India vs Pakistan, 300+ runs have been scored only twice. Looking at the condition of the pitch, it is likely that Pakistan may give India a target of more than 300 runs in the eighth match being played. Batting first in the England vs New Zealand match played on this pitch on 5 October, Jos Buttler’s team scored 282 runs in 50 overs. But, the Kiwi team achieved a big victory by chasing the target in only 36.2 overs. The pitch of Narendra Modi Stadium favors the batsmen more and more runs are scored here.