"It was a walk in the park" - Robin Uthappa on India's seven-wicket mauling of Pakistan in the 2023 World Cup

Former Indian batter Robin Uthappa felt the highly-anticipated Pakistan clash ended up being an easy victory for Team India. The Men in Blue dominated their arch-rivals and registered a seven-wicket win with almost 20 overs to spare.

In front of a packed house at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India dismissed Pakistan for a paltry 191 off a horrendous middle and late-order collapse. They then completed the statement win with skipper Rohit Sharma smashing the Pakistan bowlers mercilessly for 86 off 63 deliveries in the run chase.

Speaking to India Today post-game, Uthappa was all praise for India as they continued their rampaging run through the 2023 World Cup.

"I'd say it was a walk in the park. It was an easy win for India. Just the way Rohit and Shubman started the innings for India, they just dictated terms. It was incredible to watch Rohit bat. He is such a difficult player to stop when he is in good form and it was just the kind of start that India wanted," he said.

Uthappa felt the side ticked all the possible boxes en route to taking the top spot in the points table after three wins in as many games.

"Shreyas Iyer batted well, Virat Kohli as well. Just all the boxes ticked and a convincing win, which takes India to a very formidable position in the points table right now which is good for India," he added.

With the win, India maintained their stranglehold on Pakistan in ODI World Cup meetings, winning their eighth consecutive in as many games. The two-time World champions have also defeated Babar Azam's Men in five straight ODIs, dating back to the 2018 Asia Cup.

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"Stacking up the points is more important than net run-rate" - Robin Uthappa

Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam shake hands after India completed another comfortable win.

Robin Uthappa further emphasized racking up wins as the primary goal for Team India rather than maintaining a high net run rate in a tournament like the World Cup.

Much like the Afghanistan run chase, the Men in Blue appeared to be in a hurry to win the game quickly and boost their net run rate, which is currently at an impressive +1. 821.

"Ideally you would want to get to the back-end of the tournament just based on the points total itself. So stacking up the points is more important than net run-rate. The way Rohit played it showed that India has also got the net run-rate covered in this game. We covered the net run-rate and also gave the players the opportunity to get some match practice," he opined.

Team India is one of only three teams to remain undefeated at the 2023 World Cup, with New Zealand and South Africa being the other two. The Men in Blue will take on Bangladesh in their next outing on Thursday, October 19, in Pune.