Indian Team's Journey in 2019 Cricket World Cup.. Game 4...India Vs Pakistan

    After beating S.Africa & Australia handsomely, India were looking forward to face the  Kiwis in their 3^rd outing in this World Cup but rain God played spoilsport and the match washed out without even a single ball bowled & points shared.

This lead India to the most anticipated match of this World Cup – The INDO- PAK clash.

As always, the Media & the fans hyped the match and the palpable excitement was at its crescendo on the eve of the match. The weather forecast was of intermittent rains during the match. With fingers crossed and prayers on the lips for rain God to stay away for most part of the match, the Indian fans from all over the globe started flooding the Old Trafford Stadium much before the start which with 24000 audience capacity seemed smaller then usual. In no time the stadium bathed in complete Blue color with pittance of Green here and there.

With rains staying away for the moment, both the Team Captains went out to toss. Sarfaraz-the Pakistan captain called in correct and opted to bowl first that lead Virat’s Indian Team to come out and Bat in overcast conditions once again. As expected, Indian think tank replaced injured Dhawan with Vijay Shankar who would make his World Cup debut. He was slated to Bat at no. 4, position vacated by K.L.Rahul who would partner Rohit Sharma as an opener.

Both the openers came out and provided a shaky start against quality pace bowling of Mohd.Amir whose first 5 overs fetched only 14 runs. Amir looked way ahead of other bowlers and continued to trouble the likes of both Rohit & Rahul.There was apparently no understanding between the two Indian openers initially as their calling & running between the wickets was all over the place, which almost lead to a horrible mix up in the 10 th over with both the batsman almost stranded on one end. It was with good luck for India that the throw from Fakhar Zaman went to the wrong end and Rohit could scramble to his end safely. Rohit again got reprieve when Shadab Khan’s throw went wide on the batting end in the very next over. It seemed that Hit Man needed just the right amount of luck to go on and post his 2^nd century of this World Cup (100runs of just 84 balls) in the 30^th over and then converted it into a BIG HUNDRED as he always does.

With this century,Rohit became the 1^st Indian Batsman to score back to back ODI 100s against arch rival Pakistan. Earlier Rohit also reached his fastest fifty ever in just 34 balls.

Rohit even gave the fans a nostalgic moment when he hit a six of an upper cut of Hassan Ali’s wide bouncer ala Sachin Tendulkar’s upper cut six of Shoaib Akhtar in 2003 WC.

On the other end, Rahul too didn’t let the absence of Shikhar Dhawan felt as he quickly came into his own to score his well deserved maiden World Cup Fifty.

Together he and Rohit formed a brilliant partnership for the first wicket of 136 runs-India’s highest against Pakistan in World Cup.Rahul quickly fell on 57 of 78 balls of the bowling of Wahab Riaz caught by Baber.

Virat was next in .He too started on a scratchy note. Meanwhile India reached 200 in the 35^th over .Then Rohit attempted a foolish scope shot of Hassan Ali which went straight to Wahab Riaz at short fine leg. He was out for 140 runs of 113 balls in the 39^th over & missed another opportunity of a double century here.

Hardik Pandaya riding on hard hitting form, came in before Vijay Shankar to take the place of centurian Rohit Sharma next. During all this mayhem, Pakistan also didn’t disappoint when they continued with their pathetic fielding performance all throughout.Virat quickly adjusted and scored his 51st fifty of 51 balls in 44 th over. India 276 for 2. Pandaya was not in his elements today and fell for 26 of 19 balls of Amir caught by Baber.

Dhoni came in next and immediately was sent back by Amir on 1 when he was caught behind by Sarfaraz. India’s 300 came in 46^th over with the loss of 4 wickets. Stage was set for debutant Vijay Shankar to come and slog when the sky opened up and rain stopped the game in the 47^th over, India on 305 for 4 and Kohli on 71 of 62 balls.

It was another milestone achieved by Virat Kohli when he became the fastest Batsman to score 11000 runs.

As the game started again after a brief rain break, Captain Kohli did an “Adam Gilchrist act” when he walked to what seemed like an edge caught by the keeper of Amir. The replay showed that the ball neither touched his bat nor kissed his glove enroute to the keeper. It was later found that a loose bat handle might have creaked which made Kohli belief that he edged one to the keeper. He went for 77 of 65 balls in 48^th over.India317 for the loss of 5 wickets.

Kedar Jadhav then joined Vijay Shankar and together they took India to a final score of 336 in their stipulated 50 overs for the loss of 5 wickets. Thereby giving Pakistan a handsome target of 337 runs of 50 overs. Only silver lining for Pakistan, was ace bowler Mohd Amir’s impressive figures of 10-1-47-3.

Pakistan came into bat with a mighty task of chasing 337 runs with an asking rate of almost 7 runs per over. India came into a rude shock when strappy Bhuvneshwar Kumar pulled a hamstring in the 5 th over of the Pakistan run chase and had to go off. It actually turned out to be blessing for India as debutant VijayShanker who came into complete B.Kumar’s over got the wicket of opener Imam, the very first ball he bowled. Imam found himself stranded plumb in front of his wicket and was out leg before for 7.Pak 13 for 1 in 5 overs.

Baber came in next and he and Fakhar showed some resistance as together they added 104 runs for their team, until Kuldeep Yadav cleaned up both Baber(48) and opener Fakhar (62) in quick succession. Pakistan 126 for 3 in 26th over. Then Pakistan’s most experienced due of Hafeez and Malik both went without a flutter of Pandaya again in quick succession. Malik in particular played one on to his stumps the very first ball he faced (might not have liked annoying his wife Sania…Pun intended)

Captain Sarfaraz tried to steady the ship but ever increasing asking rate and a collapse of 4 wickets in the span of 12 runs broke the back of Pakistan. No sooner than Shankar bowled out Sarfaraz for 12, the rains came back again when Pakistan score board read 166 for 6 after 35 overs.

When match resumed, Pakistan needed a steep 136 of 30 balls as per revised run chase (D/L) equation .They finally ended at 212 for the loss of 6 wickets at the end of play and India’s clean sweep continued against Pakistan in World Cup.

MY ANALYSIS:

1.                 In my opinion the Pakistan team in this World Cup is the weakest till date. They lack strength in all the department –be it Batting, Bowling or Fielding. Barring Mohd.Amir, their so called senior players be it Shoaib Malik , Hafeez (Both looked Disinterested) or Wahab Riaz (Where is the spell which shocked Watson in 2015 World Cup??)  Or even Sarfaraz (Who was continuously Yawning and seemed bored…like seriously??) no one is ready to raise their hand and take the onus of pulling the team up. Therefore even the new bees look clueless and lost as there is no one to handhold them. Their fielding pulls the team down, there is no implementation of basics and even the mutual collaboration is missing.

2.                 India on the other hand is a much rounded team and had clear tasks cut out for each player in the team. The Openers know their role well of giving a good start for the team when they bat. They are willing to spend time in the middle and seeing off the new ball and main opposition bowlers. Once they have their eyes in, they can go all out. This leads to Batsman coming after them play with fearless approach, proof of which we saw in Hardik Pandaya’s innings in earlier matches although he had a bit of an off day today.

3.                 Rohit started where he left in the last match .With 2 hundreds and a fifty already in the kitty now, Hitman Rohit Sharma with a bit of luck is looking formidable and dangerous for the opposition teams. What he needs to do is quickly get accustomed to opening with Rahul as Dhawan is out for a considerable time. The uncertainty of today’s running between the wickets should clear off by the next match against Afghanistan on 22^nd.

4.                 Rahul for the meantime is filling the shoes of Dhawan quite well .His technique although is far better than Dhawan which is again a bonus for team India. He needs to collaborate well with Rohit in running between the wickets.

5.                 Virat needs to only curb his “Walking” instincts… Let there be only one Gilly in cricketing history!!

6.                 Pandaya needs to understand that every ball can never be hit out of the park. In this match it became quite obvious that he was just trying to smack every ball out of the boundary line which becomes predictable for the opposition. On bowling front he is a big asset for the team, chipping up with two quick wickets that too of Pakistan’s supposedly batting mainstays.

7.                 Dhoni had one rare off day today; I’m not worried a bit for him.

8.                 It was a memorable debut for VijayShanker, He impressed both with ball (first ball wicket) and bat (run a ball 15*). I’m sure he will prove many people wrong in matches to come, who felt that he is not the right choice and a weak link in the team.

9.                 It was quite heartening to see Kuldeep Yadav back amongst wicket when he cleaned up two quick wickets which turned the game back into India’s favor. Welcome sign for India for future matches.

All in all a stupendous all round performance by Team India. These emphatic wins over 3 big teams will surely put India in driving seat and accelerate them for the semis berth.

HAPPY READING…till the next match…