Toss: India chose to field
Result: India won by 7 wickets and 117 balls to spare
Man of the Match: Jasprit Bumrah.
2nd March 2014, Shahid Afridi heaves 2 sixes over Ashwin’s head to pull off a heist. Pakistan seals the match with 1 wicket left. Agony for the Indian fans, ecstasy for their neighbours and delightment for the neutrals who have experienced yet another memorable battle of “THE” rivalry of world cricket. Nearly 10 years since then, 7 further complete ODIs have taken place between the two sides however we are still searching for a new glorious chapter, with each of the 7 being one-sided drubbings and the same was the case today.
Rohit’s decision of fielding was rather an unpopular choice for a few, with bowling conditions improving under light for several games in the tournament.
After an extended dry run, the Pakistani openers looked set for a big stand, with Siraj who went on a streak of full-length delivers in search of early movement(which was non-existent today), providing the fodder. However, it was Siraj himself who provided the first breakthrough, falling back to his cross-seam and catching Abdullah off-guard. Imam, who has been inconsistent throughout 2023, raced to 36 runs of 37 balls before edging out to Hardik which was all in all, felt like a soft dismissal but the accurate short-ball barrage preceding the wicket may have caused the error in Imam’s footwork. Hardik has always had the knack of picking wickets even when all momentum is against him and today was the same case but he has recently become consistent in this practice, averaging 22.16 with the ball since 2022.
Babar-Rizwan is a constant graphic in T20Is for Pakistani fans and recently this habit has carried over to ODIs. Babar looked on song, flying to a 28-ball 30, playing his trademark drives of the pacers but once the spinners came in, the scoring rate dwindled. It was Jadeja who proved to be the first barrier, and was unlucky for a couple of umpire’s calls going against him. Rizwan who had a match-winning century against Sri Lanka, found his strike rate hovering around 80, with the occasional sweep against the spinners keeping the scoreboard ticking.
After a 7-over spell for Jadeja, skipper Sharma bought back Siraj who conceded 8 runs off the first over of his second. The most expensive bowler at that stage, Siraj also conceded 76 runs in the previous match against Afghanistan. But Rohit decided to ignore the above information and trusted Siraj for a 2nd over, and Miya repaid this trust by removing Babar again from a cross-seamer, Babar had just brought up his half-century.
This was it, this very dismissal opened the floodgates for India. Shakeel was the next to go, Kuldeep getting his first wicket in his 8th over. Again initially it was given not-out and keeper Rahul seemed to agree with the umpire but India went forward with its hunch and voila, Pakistan was 162/4. Ifthikar would follow Saud, playing all over a delivery which was probably the worst one to come out of Kuldeep’s hands today. Wanting to increase the pressure, Rohit called back Bumrah. Bumrah was yet again extremely disciplined with the new ball even when there was very little help up front. Bumrah brought an end to Rizwan’s scratchy 49 in the very first over of his 2nd spell. Tail-enders have proved to be a nuisance for Indian bowlers for quite some time though today wasn’t going to be one of those frustrating evenings. The Indian bowling split the spoils among them as 5 different Indian bowlers picked up 2 wickets to bundle out Pakistan for a paltry 191 within 42.5 overs.
The pitch certainly wasn’t a highway as a few of us expected, with the occasional delivery staying low and the pacer’s cutters stopping at the pitch. However, it certainly wasn’t any demon with the Pakistan team maybe falling prey to their high expectations.
Expectations have been synonymous with the Indian top-order though it rarely seems to have a negative impact on them.
Shaheen ever since his 4-wicket rout against India last month, has totally looked clueless, with his gameplan of swinging in the delivery being telegraphed from miles ahead. Both openers stepped out with a positive mindset. Gill who was making his comeback after missing the opening 2 matches due to dengue, took off from where he left, playing 3 beautiful drives across the off-side within his first 7 balls. Still, his comeback innings was to be a short one, ending through a slash to the man stationed at point. This early wicket didn’t bother Rohit who also took off from where he left, smashing Shaheen for 15 runs along with Kohli in the 7th over. There was the iconic mix-up between Rohirat and Kohli surviving due to Shaheen’s inaccurate throw, however, this didn't count for much as Kohli was dismissed by Hasan in the last over of powerplay 1, trying to recreate the ‘shot of an emperor’.
This too didn’t dismay Rohit’s attitude. Apart from Iyer’s initial discomfort to Rauf’s bowling, it was all India for the rest of the match, with captain Rohit leading the way. With massive pulls, drives, or even step-down barrages, it seemed to be an exact replica of Sharma’s innings against Afghanistan. He bought up his fifty of 36 deliveries and was all set for his second consecutive century. Unfortunately, he fell 14 runs short of the milestone, victim of Shaheen’s characteristic change of pace delivery. With only 36 runs left to chase, Rahul-Iyer made sure there were no more hiccups. Shreyas finished the match with a boundary and bought up his half-century at the last ball of the match. Pakistani bowlers seemed detached from the game for long and it only felt merciful of the Indian batsmen to put them out of their misery by as early as the 31st over.
Deciding the man of the match was a tough task, with Bumrah collecting the award, however, the spin duo of Jadeja-Kuldeep and captain Rohit were equally deserving candidates.
