WATCH | Babar Azam’s soft dismissal leads to Pakistan’s disappointing collapse in Ahmedabad

Babar Azam suffered a soft dismissal after scoring his maiden ODI fifty against India in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 match on Saturday. India made a sensational comeback at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium with Babar’s wicket after brilliant all-round bowling. 

Babar and Mohammad Rizwan added 82 runs for the third wicket after losing openers early. The duo put Pakistan in a comfortable position for a big total but Mohammed Siraj gave India a breakthrough they needed to make a comeback. 

Siraj bowled out Babar in the 30th over when Pakistan were dominating the game at 155 for 2. Babar scored 50 off 58 balls to return to form but his dismissal witnessed Pakistan losing momentum and potentially a game. Pakistan lost five wickets in the next six overs with just 16 runs added to the scoreboard after Babar’s dismissal.

Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah picked two wickets each to completely break Pakistan’s confidence in the middle overs. Bumrah denied Rizwan his third consecutive fifty-plus knock in the tournament with a sensational delivery in the 34th over. Rizwan scored 49 runs to go top in the scoring chart in the tournament but his dismissal put Pakistan on a path for a potential eight defeat against India in ODI World Cup.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma won the toss for India and elected to bowl first. India’s top-ranked ODI batter Shubman Gill made a comeback after missing the opening two games and replaced Ishan Kishan in the playing XI in the only change.

India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Pakistan Playing XI: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf

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