Bowlers bamboozle the Pakistani batters as Rohit eases India to another thumping win over arch-rivals.
IND vs PAK World Cup 2023 Highlights: India maintained a clean sheet over Pakistan in the ODI World Cup history with a seven-wicket win over the side in Ahmedabad.
Marred with political and religious din, that started more than six months before the actual match was to be played, the spectacle of India vs Pakistan in an ICC tournament as usual faltered in the face of its expectations. The match, which was being watched by around 20% of the world’s population, turned out to be a muted contest from one side both on the field and in the stands.
The pressure of facing 11 men in a blue jersey supported by more than 100,000 blue masses of humanity, proved a little too much for the men in green. They floundered amply in their attempt, even though their first four batters gave the rest of the team a reasonable start to build upon.
The situation for Pakistan was intricate from the get-go when India - learning from New Zealand’s zeal against England in the first match, also played here in Ahmedabad- chose to bowl first after winning the toss. The dew factor was touted to come into play in the second part of the innings, so batting under the lights was preferred.
This was to be only the second time India was to chase in a World Cup game against Pakistan. The other time was in Centurion, South Africa back in 2003, when Pakistan set up a target of 274 for the Indians to achieve within 50 overs.
Early on it was an easy-pace track for the batters to take advantage and advantage they took, Abdullah Shafique and Imam-Ul-Haq scored 16 runs from the first two overs, all from boundaries. Bumrah was punched on his last ball of the first over by Shafique to mid-wicket, while Imam quickly pounced on Siraj’s two loose deliveries, in the second over of the match, on the leg. The third boundary, also off Siraj, was a picture-perfect straight drive to long off by Imam.
The pressure from the last match against Afghanistan was already on Siraj, where he bowled his most expensive spell in ODI cricket. It was already visible that the pacers couldn’t get any swing out of the pitch, and the only option now seemed for them was to take the pace off the ball and throw those odd cutters. Siraj went one step ahead and relied on the last option, a cross-seam delivery and it paid well, as Shafique was caught in front after attempting to play across the line.
This followed a series of aggressive bowling by the Indian contingent, as Hardik started testing the Pakistan captain, Babar Azam with short-pitch deliveries of varied heights. But the Pakistani batter did not falter with the task at hand smashing a couple of them to the boundary line. Babar’s counterattack on the Indian bowling had little effect though, with Hardik quickly grabbing Imam, as he enticed him into playing another wide of off-stump delivery, which he subsequently edged into the hands of second slip.
The slow Ahmedabad pitch proved to be the perfect place for Ravindra Jadeja to shine, as he started getting spin from the first ball. Mohammad Rizwan witnessed this immediately as he escaped a LBW scare with the DRS showing the ball to have spun a little too much, and Jadeja continued making the batter think before every ball. The two-star batters from Pakistan kept their team in the hunt though, for a while, by slowly stitching a 50-run partnership while finding the odd boundary.
Despite Pakistan’s attempt to remain less flashy and more sedate, Babar’s half-century brought with it a bit of bad luck as the team started giving away their wickets cheaply. 30 overs of calmness turned into panic with Pakistan's nerves beginning to fray. The team slumped from 155-2 at one point to 191 all out, by the end of 43rd over.
Except for Shardul Thakur, who bowled only two overs, every other Indian bowler was able to scalp at least two wickets. Bumrah was the star man again with his unplayable off-cutter to Rizwan and a quicker one - equally impossible to negotiate - toppling Shadab's off stump. Rizwan was one shy of a half-century before losing his wicket. Jadeja then mopped up the tail, while earlier Kuldeep spun his web around Shakeel and Iftikhar.
This was just a start to thumping that the Colosseum filled with blue shirts was about to witness. The men in blue came out all guns blazing with captain Rohit Sharma demonstrating the same form he showed against Afghanistan. He took the attack to Pakistan's vaunted pace unit early, biting chunks out of the low target. Shubman Gill after recovering from a nasty bout of dengue fever, was similarly enterprising. The pair struck five fours off the first two overs before one slash off Afridi by Gill flew straight to Shadab at point.
This united the much-fancied pair of Rohit and Virat Kohli on the crease, who went after Pakistan’s ace Shaheen’s short-pitch deliveries. Rohit blasted one to deep backward square leg, while Kholi pulled one down to mid-wicket for a boundary. The Mumbai-born, Indian captain kept the opposition bowlers unsettled with an odd six every over. He even welcomed Haris Rauf, back in attack, with a monstrous tonk over mid-on for his 300th ODI six. Three balls later, he would play perhaps the shot of the day, a sliced six over cover after perfectly reading an attempted slower ball by the fast bowler.
Kolhi who until now was timing the ball to perfection, while holding the other end, spliced a slower short ball by Hassan Ali to mid-on. Despite this setback, the Hitman continued with his dazzling display of hitting as he brought up a 36-ball half-century. This sumptuous strokemaking spilt over onto the spinners as well, hitting the out-of-form Shadab all around the park. Shreyas Iyer, a competent accomplice, was treating Nawaz the same way.
The sea of blue, who now awaited another of Rohit’s ton, were left stranded as Afridi returned and found a way to make the Indian captain miscue one to midwicket, leaving him 14 short. But that was as good as it would get for Pakistan, as KL Rahul and Iyer eased home, the latter bringing up his unbeaten half-century with the winning shot, a straight drive for four.
This was supplement enough to emphasise what had already been anticipated following the frenetic play of game delivered by the Indian bowling contingent.
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