New York: This whole India-Pakistan rivalry business hasn’t been much of that of late with one-sided victories, rather bland plot lines and no real hero to speak of.
Despite the lack of recent thrill, the International Cricket Council pegged this game to be the one to watch out for, the one to spend all your money on, the one which could give the American audience a slice of a sport they have refused to understand for ages.
They probably still don’t get it, but they would’ve sensed it. Probably even felt confusingly enveloped by the emotions of two nations and their players willing to put their bodies on the line for a piece of history.
Those at the stadium, mostly those backing the Indians, didn’t need a lesson in cricket. They just wanted to see their representatives put one past Pakistan, and they manifested it so.
It was not as easy as people made it out to be after Pakistan lost their opener against the United States three days ago, but it was enough to put India on top of the Group A table.
Rohit Sharma’s India posted a thrilling six-run victory on an interesting day of cricket, conflicting culture and a nervy dance between the sun and the rain.
After being bowled out for a less-than-impressive 119 after a rather positive start, a majority of the 34,028 people wore a look of mourning during the innings break.
They had seen Naseem Shah (3/21), Mohammad Amir (2/23 and Harris Rauf (3/21) reduce, arguably, the best batting unit in this World Cup to a sub-par total, or at least what sub-par felt like at the time because the pitch was not as ill-behaved as it was expected to be.
It was decent enough for the first ten overs of India’s innings, but once it started playing tacky, the Indians couldn’t play through the line, meaning the likes of Rishabh Pant (42) and Suryakumar Yadav were severely restricted.
Once the light roller was used on the strip, it began to play well yet again and Pakistan’s batters were chugging along just fine, but Jasprit Bumrah’s genius would not let them get away with it.
As expected, he took the pitch out of the equation with figures of 3 for 14 from four spectacular overs to help India restrict Pakistan to 113 for 7 in 20 overs.
But this game was not won only because the freak unleashed did his thing. This defence of a paltry total began in the 13th over when Hardik Pandya (yeah, boo all you want now), gave away a run for a wicket.
Arshdeep Singh’s 13th was a tight one. Bumrah’s 15th was spotless with a scalp too. Axar’s 16th saw two runs given away, and Pandya’s 15th witnessed five runs and a wicket.
Pakistan, at this stage, needed 30 runs from 18 balls. They were not far, a few good hits would do it. Yeah, that’s not how it happened. Bumrah came on for the 19th over and gave away three runs and picked up the wicket of Iftikhar.
Now, all that remained was for Arshdeep to hold his nerve in defence of 18 runs. He did that wonderfully well. The stadium erupted, and that hour or so of rain which disrupted the game, was a thing of the past.
As was Shivam Dube’s drop which saw the stadium drained pale. In the end, parity was restored, but Pakistan will be hoping for something miraculous to happen to save their campaign.
SCOREBOARD
INDIA
Rohit c Rauf b Afridi 13
(12b, 1x4, 1x6)
Kohli c Usman b Naseem 4
(3b)
Pant c Azam b Amir 42
(31b, 6x4)
Axar b Naseem 20
(18b, 2x4, 1x6)
Suryakumar c Amir b Rauf 7
(8b, 1x4)
Dube c&b Naseem 3
(9b)
Pandya c Iftikhar b Rauf 7
(12b, 1x4)
Jadeja c Wasim b Amir 0
(1b)
Arshdeep (run out) 9
(13b, 1x4)
Bumrah c Wasim b Rauf 0
(1b)
Siraj (not out) 7
(7b)
Extras (LB-1, NB-1, W-5) 7
TOTAL (all out, 19 overs) 119 Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Kohli), 2-19 (Rohit), 3-58 (Axar), 4-89 (Suryakumar), 5-95 (Dube), 6-96 (Pant), 7-96 (Jadeja), 8-112 (Pandya), 9-112 (Bumrah).
Bowling: Afridi 4-0-29-1 (w-1), Naseem 4-0-21-3 (w-1, nb-1), Amir 4-0-23-2, Iftikhar 1-0-7-0 (w-1), Wasim 3-0-17-0 (w-1), Rauf 3-0-21-3.
PAKISTAN
Rizwan b Bumrah 31
(44b, 1x4, 1x6)
Azam c Suryakumar b Bumrah 13
(10b, 2x4)
Usman lbw Axar 13
(15b, 1x4)
Zaman c Pant b Pandya 13
(8b, 1x4, 1x6)
Wasim c Pant b Arshdeep 15
(23b, 1x4)
Shadab c Pant b Pandya 4
(7b)
Iftikhar c Arshdeep b Bumrah 5
(9b)
Afridi (not out) 0
(1b)
Naseem (not out) 10
(4b, 2x4)
Extras (LB-4, NB-1, W-4) 9
TOTAL (for 7 wickets, 20 overs) 113.
Fall of wickets: 1-26 (Azam), 2-57 (Usman), 3-73 (Zaman), 4-80 (Rizwan), 5-88 (Shadab), 6-102 (Iftikhar), 7-102 (Wasim).
Bowling: Arshdeep 4-0-31-1 (w-1), Siraj 4-0-19-0 (w-1, nb-1), Bumrah 4-0-14-3, Pandya 4-0-24-2 (w-1), Jadeja 2-0-10-0, Axar 2-0-11-1.
Result: India won by 6 runs.
PoM: Jasprit Bumrah.
Next match: vs USA (Nassau Count International stadium, June 12)