Birmingham: Some exceptional bowling from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja followed by a superb knock of 48 from 41 balls by in-form Shikhar Dhawan helped India beat Pakistan by eight wickets with 17 balls remaining in their last league encounter at ICC Champions Trophy on Saturday.
In a match truncated by rain, Pakistan were bundle out for 165 in 39.4 overs due to a disciplined effort by the Indian bowling unit led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who returned with figures of two for 19.
India's final revised target courtesy D/L method was 102 in 22 overs which the 'Men In Blue' achieved with 17 balls to spare as Shikhar Dhawan again blazed his way to a 41-ball-48. India thus finished group league engagements with an all-win record.
The win was also India's first in the Champions Trophy having lost against the same opponents in the 2004 and 2009 editions of the tournament.
Chasing the target, India were off to a solid start as openers Dhawan and Rohit Sharma (18) added 58 runs for the opening stand. Dhawan was the aggressive of the two as he kept hammering the bowlers on the off-side. Dhawan hit five boundaries before he was caught at the third man boundary off Wahab Riaz for 48. Virat Kohli (22 no) and Dinesh Karthik (11 no) ensured that there were no hiccups in the chase.
Earlier, fantastic effort from the bowlers enabled India to skittle out arch-rivals Pakistan for a modest 165. Spin twins Ravindra Jadeja (2/30 in 8 overs)and Ravichandran Ashwin (2/35 in 8 overs) kept the Pakistan batsmen on a leash during middle overs after brilliant opening spell by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/19 in 8 overs), who again produced the goods upfront.