The ball that was used for the India-Pakistan ICC Cricket World Cup clash on June 16 at the Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester has been sold for a whopping amount of Rs 1.5 lakh. According to OfficialMemorabilia, the official partner of ICC for selling memorabilia of the World Cup, the ball has fetched $2,150.
The Men in Blue won the match with sheer dominance over Pakistan. India were the first to bat and they set up a target of 337 runs for Pakistan with brilliant knocks from Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul. Rohit Sharma topped the scorecard with a magnificent 140 runs coming of just 113 balls. During the chase, Pakistan were unsettled from the beginning by the Indian bowlers and their batsmen were not showing the intent to win after the 100-run partnership of Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman got broken. Pakistan started to lose wickets in regular intervals and were reduced to 212 for six in 40 overs when rain interrupted play. The match did not resume from thereon and India won by 89 runs according to DLS method.
The coin used for the toss and the scoresheet of the match got sold for Rs 99,360 and Rs 75,377 respectively. Among all the 27 memorabilia available on the website for sale which are related to the matches of the Men in Blue, three are left, - the scoresheet, coin and the match ball of the India New Zealand semi-final clash.
India exited the World Cup after losing their semi-final to New Zealand. It was not at all expected as India was hot favourite to win the match. On the first day of the rain-interrupted match, India were marching ahead as the bowlers restricted the Kiwis to 239 runs. But on the second day, the Black Caps bounced back as their bowlers pounced on the Indian batsmen and the top-order was brought to its knees.