Rain plays spoilsport, but India emerge on top

India beat arch-rivals Pakistan by eight wickets and 17 balls to spare via the Duckworth-Lewis Method in their rain affected last Group B match here at Edgbaston and entered the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy as toppers Saturday.

India achieved the rain revised target of 102 losing two wickets in 19.1 overs after Shikhar Dhawan struck 48 and Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 22.

Pakistan were all out for 165 runs in 39.4 overs after the match was reduced to a 40-over-per-side affair due to rain delay early in the innings.

Chasing a first rain revised target of 168, Indians were comfortably placed at 47 for no loss in 8.1 overs when the rain gods came down heavily for the second time in the game.

After another interruption of more than 30 minutes, the target was further revised to 102 off 22 overs.

Shikhar Dhawan (48) and Rohit Sharma (18) gave India a stable start adding 58 runs for the first wicket.

Dhawan was the dominating of the two while Rohit, who hit 65 and 52 against South Africa and West Indies, fell tamely chipping an easy catch of mid-wicket off Saeed Ajmal.

With victory in sight, Dhawan holed out to third-man while trying to hit out Wahab Riaz but Virat Kohli (22 not out) and Dinesh Karthik (11 not out) took the team home safely.

Put into bat, Pakistan fumbled out for 165 in 39.4 overs after the match was shortened to 40 overs per side after a delayed start due to rain.

Asad Shafiq was the top scorer with 41, which included three boundaries, while Mohammed Hafeez and Umar Amin struck 27 each.

After right-handed bat Mohammed Hafeez (27) was caught behind on the bowling off Ishant Sharma, Pakistan regularly kept losing wickets and none of the batsmen took the initiative to attack the Indian bowling.

Lefty Umar Amin (27 not out) tried to up the ante by hitting a couple of boundaries but eventually ran out of partners.

For India, pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sharma and the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja got two wickets each.

Kumar with figures of 19 was adjudged Man of the Match.

The match was disturbed by rain four times.

India will take on the team which finishes second in Group A at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff June 20. For Pakistan the tournament finished without a single win.