A couple of years ago, Pakistan thrashed India by 10 wickets in Dubai to taste their first T20 World Cup win over their arch-rivals. Pakistan’s players and fans would have believed that they had the required resources to end the long-standing jinx of never having beaten India in the 50-over World Cup. The reality though turned out to be very different as India once again got the better of Pakistan, romping home by seven wickets in front of a huge crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Rohit Sharma (86 runs), and all five frontline bowlers, starred for the home side.
As the Indian openers – Rohit and Shubman Gill – walked out to bat with a confident gait, the key point to note was whether the ball would skid through in the second innings. Just as we witnessed in the England-New Zealand game at this venue, it did once again favour the side batting second. It has to be said, however, that even if the conditions hadn’t changed, it would always have been difficult for Pakistan to defend a modest total of 191.
Rohit made a statement straightaway by nonchalantly clipping a delivery from Shaheen Afridi into the boundary hoardings. Gill, playing at his happy hunting ground, followed his skipper with a delightful drive through the covers. In the second over bowled by Hasan Ali, Gill added three more fours. Gill, playing his first game of the tournament after recovering from dengue, didn’t last long however, as he cut one off Afridi to Shadab Khan at backward point.
Despite losing his batting partner, Rohit was in no mood to play percentage cricket. The pick of all those sumptuous shots was a glorious lofted drive over long-on off the raw pace of Haris Rauf. The timing was pure and pristine. In the 10th over, India did lose a second wicket as Virat Kohli cross-batted a heave to the fielder stationed at mid-on. Unfortunately for Pakistan, India were cruising towards the target by then.
Shreyas Iyer and Rohit joined forces and shared an association of 77 to more or less seal the deal for India. Shreyas landing the pull with a back-and-across movement against Pakistan’s pace bowlers caught one’s attention. In the past, Iyer has had his issues with the short ball, but he seemed to have put in the hard yards in order to improve his pull shot. For a while, it seemed as if Rohit also would bring up his eighth World Cup hundred. It wasn’t to be as he was dismissed by Afridi’s slower one. Iyer and KL Rahul, India’s middle-order fulcrums, then calmly steered the side home.
On a slow wicket, India’s bowlers deserved a large share of the credit for the thumping win. Even as Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan strung together a partnership of 82, India kept looking for wickets. Ultimately, Babar was removed by Mohammad Siraj’s nip-backer. Kuldeep Yadav, India’s spin spearhead, then turned the game on its head by dislodging Saud Shakeel and Iftikhar Ahmed in a single over. The googly to Iftikhar in particular turned out to be a ripper. Kuldeep imparted plenty of revs on the ball as Ifitkhar deflected the ball onto the stumps via the gloves.
Rohit continued to be proactive as he brought Jasprit Bumrah, his pace spearhead, back into the attack. Bumrah didn’t take much time to make an impact as he cleaned up Rizwan with a cracker of an off-cutter. Shadab Khan, who replaced Rizwan at the crease, was done in by another corker. All that Shadab could do was hear the death rattle. Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja provided the finishing touches by picking up the last three wickets. Pakistan had collapsed form 155 for 2 to 191 all out on the back of a stunning bowling performance.
Barring a minor chink or two, India have all the bases covered at the moment. They also have the required momentum, having won all their three matches so far. Their arch-rivals have a lot of soul-searching to do ahead of the next clash against Australia at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.