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ICC defends farcical finish to India's win over Pakistan

June 18, 2019 00:00:00


MANCHESTER, June 17 (AFP): The International Cricket Council defended the farcical finish to India's World Cup win over Pakistan after rain left Sarfaraz Ahmed's side with a seemingly impossible task on Sunday.

Pakistan were 166 for six, chasing an initial target of 337, when rain stopped play after 35 overs.

Had the match ended then, they would have lost by 86 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method for rain-affected matches.

But the umpires decided play could resume, only for Pakistan to be left needing an outlandish further 136 in just five more overs to reach a revised D/L winning score of 302 in 40 overs.

An ICC spokesman told the news agency that, with net run-rate a potential tie-breaker in qualifying the top four for the semi-finals if teams are level on points, it would have been wrong to end the game any earlier and so, at the very least, deny Pakistan the chance to boost their rate.


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