Pakistan vs India; we have been here before

On Sunday, 23rd February, the cricket world stood still at (9:00 am BST); why? Pakistan faced India, knowing that only a win would be in Dubai. Mohammed Rizwan's Pakistan are the defending champions and were looking to avoid on becoming the first defending champions to be knocked out in the Champions Trophy group stage. 

From that victorious group eight years ago, ex-captain Babar Azam, a then fresh-faced youngster and Fakhar Zaman remained. Although on neutral ground due to political reasons, Pakistan were technically the home side, and they would bat first after winning the toss. Unlike the loss against New Zealand, in this game, the men in green seemed more determined to accelerate scoring. Fakhar had to sit this one out, so that meant Imam Ul-Haq returned to the side. 

The make-shift opening pair of Babar and Imam did relatively well until Babar Azam was caught behind off the brilliant bowling of Hardik Pandya. With just one down at the point, the hosts had a chance to rebuild the innings, but Imam Ul-Haq, who is notorious for his poor running in between the wickets, took on Axar Patel in the field and failed miserably in taking on a run that was never there. 

Two wickets fell so close together that Saud Shakeel (62 off 76 balls) and Mohammed Rizwan (46 off 77 balls) were forced to regroup, consolidate, and rebuild. To the credit of both men, they did this, and it seemed like Pakistan was slowly wrestling control back from their archrivals. 

But, as usual in the big games against India, Pakistan completely choked and lost their way. From 159-4, the hosts crumbled to 241 all out, which, in reality, was short of a good target, maybe by about 30 runs. 

It could have been worse for the men in green if Khushdil Shah (38 off 39 balls) hadn't made the contribution he did. In reply India paced their innings much better. Whereas Pakistan were struggling to keep the score board ticking, Rohit Sharma's India courtesy of their star-player Virat Kohli (100 not off 113 balls), were always in charge of the run chase. 

Abrar Ahmad bowled with a lot of fight (1-28), but he stood on his own as every other bowler accept for Naseem Shah (0-37 off eight overs), taking punishment from the Indian batsmen. Shrubman Gill (46 off 52) and Shreyas Iyer (56 off 67 balls) didn't score more than a run a ball, but they didn't need to, their innings was exactly was what required. 

This defeat will hurt Pakistan in many ways. The fact that they were more than in this game at several points and also the fact that they repeated mistakes of old. It's onwards and upwards for India, but as for the hosts Pakistan, they're out of the tournament.