India maintained their perfect record in the Champions Trophy with a rain-affected, eight-wicket win over already-eliminated Pakistan at Edgbaston.Several delays meant India were eventually left to chase 102 in 22 overs, a target they achieved for the loss of two wickets with 17 balls to spare.Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan continued his recent good form with 48 off 41 deliveries and Virat Kohli’s 22 not out steered his side over the winning line.India had already qualified for the semi-finals as Group B winners following victories over South Africa and West Indies, while Pakistan knew they were heading home regardless of the result as they had lost twice.Stop-startAsad Shafiq’s 41 was the top score as Pakistan were bowled out for 165 in 39.4 overs in an innings that included two rain breaks.Having been sent in under cloudy skies, Pakistan opener Nasir Jamshed successfully overturned an lbw verdict via review from the first ball of the second over, bowled by Umesh Yadav. Replays showed it was going over the top of the stumps.But Jamshed’s reprieve did not last long as he poked a catch to Suresh Raina at second slip off Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the next over and was on his way for two.Kamran Akmal, promoted to open, and Mohammad Hafeez saw Pakistan to 50-1 off 12 overs before a 12-minute hold up.Kumar (2-19) had Hafeez (27) caught behind from the first ball after the resumption and Akmal soon followed to Ravi Ashwin (2-35), caught at short-leg via wicketkeeper Dhoni’s thigh after driving against the turn.With Pakistan on 70-3 off 19 overs, a further interruption of more than an hour-and-a-half reduced the match to a 40-over contest.Shafiq was one of seam bowler Ishant Sharma’s haul of 2-40 as none of Pakistan’s middle order was able to build on promising starts.It was left to Umar Amin with 27 not out to see them through to the final over of their innings, although a couple of late run outs meant they were all out two balls short of using their full allocation.RevisedIndia faced a target of 168 from 40 overs under the Duckworth/Lewis revision and openers Dhawan and Rohit Sharma looked to be making light work of it until rain returned once again.They had reached 45-0 in 8.1 overs when another brief downpour resulted in a 23-minute delay and saw India’s target adjusted to 157 off 36 overs.Saeed Ajmal had Sharma held at midwicket for 18 before the weather again intervened, this time for an hour.The sun did eventually reappear and India’s target was further adjusted to 102 in 22 overs, leaving them needing 39 runs off 63 deliveries.
