The much-awaited clash between India and Pakistan lived up to its high reputation greatly, as it registered a new stadium attendance record.
The Edgbaston Cricket Ground, which played host to the Indo-Pak game, drew a crowd strength of 24, 156 on the match day, a new highest for the venue in its history.
This attendance hasn’t come as a surprise considering the buzz which surrounded the fixture. The two teams have a history of attracting the crowd in full strengths. The ongoing game, which was also the tournament opener for both the Asian rivals, also witnessed similar sort of engagement.
The two sides met each other after a gap of almost a year. It was at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata during the 2016 World T20 where both the rivals last played against each other.
Fans were deprived of any cricketing action between both the teams. Therefore, the excitement grew quickly after the announcement of the Champions Trophy schedule a few months ago. However, the day had a few hiccups for the fans.
Rains played a bit of spoilsport today. The forecast for a bad weather turned out to be very true and interrupted the game three times, causing frustration among the fans. But, fortunately, it did not cause any huge trouble, apart from reducing the match into a 48 over affair.
India, after being put to bat first, racked up 319/3 in 48 overs riding on superb batting performance from the top order. The top four consisting of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh – all struck half-centuries to make the first innings a completely India dominated affair.
Sarfraz Ahmed’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss turned out to be a complete nightmare. Apart from that, a couple of other tactical decisions also played its part in the creating the misery which they suffered today. The Indians did not waste a single opportunity to suppress the Pakistan bowlers. They looked completely hapless on Sunday.
To make things worse lead bowlers – Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz – suffered injury niggles while bowling. Pakistan, in response, could not match India’s batting performance and faltered badly.
https://twitter.com/ICC/status/871408015378984961