Rohit, bowlers annihilate Pakistan as India go top

India have steamrollered Pakistan by seven wickets in a lopsided blockbuster match at a heaving Narendra Modi Stadium to maintain their unblemished World Cup record against their arch-rivals.

The western Indian city of Ahmedabad had been in the grip of cricket fever ahead of the tournament's most anticipated match, before India got themselves in the driving seat early on Saturday by bundling out their opponents for 191 inside 43 overs.

With Babar Azam (50) and Mohammad Rizwan (49) in the middle, a total of around 300 looked within Pakistan's reach, only for them to collapse in a heap, losing their last eight wickets for 36 runs.

Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the Indian bowlers in a superb team performance, claiming 2-19 in seven overs a clinical display of his distinctive style of seam bowling.

Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja also picked up two wickets each to the delight of an ecstatic 100,000-plus crowd.

India's skipper Rohit Sharma then led the chase with a blistering 86, and the two-time champions eventually romped home in 30.3 overs to maintain their unbeaten record against Pakistan in the history of World Cups and their perfect start to this edition.

They join 2019 runners-up New Zealand as the only two teams to win their first three matches in this year's tournament, with India on top of the standings thanks to a superior net run-rate.

India welcomed back Shubman Gill for his first match of the World Cup after recovering from illness, with the opener making 16 off 11 balls with four boundaries before being caught at point by Shadab Khan of Shaheen Shah Afridi.

"There is no doubt about it that the bowlers set up the game for us again today," Rohit said.

"It was a great effort. I don't think it was a 190 pitch."

India went into the match with a perfect 7-0 50-over World Cup record against their neighbours, but there was no early sign of Pakistan's eventual collapse after being put in to bat.

Imam-ul-Haq (36) hit Siraj for three fours in an over to silence the crowd, who finally found their voice in the eighth over when Siraj trapped Abdullah Shafique lbw for 20.

Imam was unable to convert his solid start, falling to Pandya before Babar and Rizwan combined in an 82-run stand to calm the nerves in the Pakistan dressing room.

At 2-155 in the 30th over, Pakistan appeared set for a 300-plus total with their two batting mainstays on song.

But seemingly out of the blue, a nightmare unfolded for the 1992 champions in just 80 balls as they lost every one of their remaining eight wickets for just 36.

Siraj (2-50) clean-bowled Babar to trigger the collapse, and Bumrah castled Rizwan with a slow off-cutter to knock the stuffing out of Pakistan.

Between those two dismissals, left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep (2-35 off 10) sent down a key two-wicket over, taking out Saud Shakeel and Iftikhar Ahmed, to wreck Pakistan's middle-order.

A second successive hundred looked on for the India captain in the chase as he smashed six sixes and six fours off 63 balls before he was deceived by a slow off-cutter from Afridi and got caught by Iftikhar at midwicket.

That left it to Shreyas Iyer to seal the win with a four that took him to 53 not out.

Pakistan now travel to Bengaluru to take on Australia next Friday while India play Bangladesh in Pune on Thursday.

2023 World Cup standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 India Men IND	9	9	0	0	0	2.57	0	18
2 South Africa Men SA	9	7	2	0	0	1.261	0	14
3 Australia Men AUS	9	7	2	0	0	0.841	0	14
4 New Zealand Men NZ	9	5	4	0	0	0.743	0	10
5 Pakistan Men PAK	9	4	5	0	0	-0.199	0	8
6 Afghanistan Men AFG	9	4	5	0	0	-0.336	0	8
7 England Men ENG	9	3	6	0	0	-0.572	0	6
8 Bangladesh Men BAN	9	2	7	0	0	-1.087	0	4
9 Sri Lanka Men SL	9	2	7	0	0	-1.419	0	4
10 Netherlands Men NED	9	2	7	0	0	-1.825	0	4

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points