Riding on fighting hundred by Kohli and an all-round team performance, Dhoni & Co maintain a clean slate against arch rivals handing them sixth defeat in World Cups
A bagel is a bread product made from yeasted wheat dough. Shaped by hand to form a ring, it's first boiled and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a brown and crisp exterior. They are yummy. In tennis, bagel is used to convey the scoreline of winning a set 6-0.
On a pulsating Sunday, one the Adelaide Oval had never quite witnessed before, the Indian team served the tennis equivalent of the Polish delicacy to their opponents from across the border. It was yummier than the real deal.
Buoyed by a century of substance more than style from Virat Kohli, brilliant 70s from Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina, and an all-round bowling and fielding effort, the defending champions extended their World Cup domination over Pakistan in fine style. It's 6-0 to MS Dhoni & Co., and it will stay like that for some more time. The manner in which India cantered to a 76-run opening win did render the last hour of the Group 'B' game pointless, but there was absorbing cricket on offer for the better part of the day.
The stadium, packed to the rafters for the most intense contest the sport has to offer, was the place to be. Prior to Sunday, all India had to show for their three-month stay in Australia was a warm-up win over Afghanistan. On the other hand, Pakistan were in admirable form and tipped by many an expert to end their India-centric jinx dating back to 1992. It wasn't to be.
Kohli's 22nd ODI hundred, which took him to right next to Sourav Ganguly and an inch closer to Sachin Tendulkar (49), was not about aggression, but about character. Allowing two enterprising left-handers to control proceedings, Kohli did the cricketing equal of penning a paper of 'How to pace an ODI inning' as India put up 300/7. They could and should have had 30 more, but some brilliant bowling at the death –– 27/5 in five overs –– thwarted them.
In response, Pakistan's shocking ploy of sending an out-of-form Younus Khan yielded a similar result when Mohammad Shami bounced him out with the ball lobbing off the batsman's gloves into MS Dhoni's. Ahmed Shehzad (47), troubled all along, and Haris Sohail (36) kept the scoreboard ticking, but were barely threatening as the 301-run target seemed further away.
Dhoni kept his word of cajoling his bowlers into not giving away boundary balls. Shami, Mohit Sharma and Umesh Yadav (second spell) did just that, with the first two conceding less than four an over. Yadav, whose first three overs went for 23, picked up Shehzad and Sohaib Maqsood in the space of three deliveries after an hour-long break. Soon, the spinners joined the party as Ravindra Jadeja got Umar Akmal for a duck (the snickometer showed a faint edge). And all of a sudden, Pakistan went from 102/2 to 103/5.
Shahid Afridi and Misbah-ul-Haq gave the minority of Pakistani fans a glimmer of hope with a 46-run partnership, but that was that. Shami returned to dismiss Afridi for 22 and Wahab Riaz for four in the same over as Pakistan were reduced to 154/7. Yasir Shah, who apart from Akmal was guilty of grassing Kohli, scratched around for some time. So did Sohail Khan and Mohammad Irfan. Misbah was the ninth man out for 76. Not for the first time — certainly not against India — he ended up a tragic hero. But no one was feeling sorry for him. At least he got the bagel.
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