It was a lost plot for Pakistan in both innings, first when their pace battery refused to fire till the death overs and then their batsmen buckling under pressure and the great Indian arm squeeze to a target of 337 runs, not to mention their skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed’s lost gamble of electing to bowl when the pitch was calling for the bat all along.
Opener Fakhar Zaman took some overs to finally unfold the contest despite the tight Indian arm cordon that kept the squeeze on as part of tested strategy. Pakistan scampered to a 100 losing only one wicket early in the innings at 16, that of Imam-ul-Haq on the first ball of Vijay Shankar, in the team for his “three dimensional abilities” and of course as a replacement to Dhawan.
The highlight of Babar Azam’s knock was his 88-meter smashing six that had Chahal’s thinking cap in the pocket for a while. The middle overs turned in a riveting contest between the two sides with Kuldeep continuing to challenge the batsmen with his flighted deliveries despite the occasional boundaries and Chahal turning up without being heckled by the aerial routes his deliveries were being routed to by a pair that had just about started using the cement India did not sell to them.
Just then Kuldeep struck, by a turning beauty that sneaked into the wicket between Azam’s bat and pad having both the bowler and the bails in the air as the partnership was broken and Pakistan’s No 3 walked at 48. Tossed up, drifting and then spinning in to fox Azam, on a ground that records the Ball of the Century, this one was, indeed, the ball of the tournament.
He soon followed it up by sending back Fakhar as he swept him straight to Chahal at backward point. Hafeez went next, this time to Pandya on a pretty routine delivery being caught on mid-on and the all-rounder followed it up by scalping Shoaib Malik in the very next ball as the foxed veteran batsman guided the ball into his leg stump, bringing Pandya on to a hattrick. That was the last time Malik played India having announced his retirement after the tournament. From 119 for 1 to 129-5 in just 19 balls, Pakistan looked like fighting a multi organ failure on a weak heart and an unbreathing chest.
After than the two rain breaks came as a welcome break for the battered Pakistani side though in the end a reduced 40-over match with 136 to score from just 30 balls gave them the circumstantial fig leaf to hide behind. The ordeal came to an end when Pakistan finally closed their account at 212/5 on Duckworth Lewis rain rules which meant they had to make 302 runs in 40 overs.
The other highlight was the first ball wicket by a jubilant Vijay Shankar who a on full length delivery turning in trapped Imam-ul-Haq right after Bhuvi left to a hamstring stiffness with one ball to go in his over.
But the golden story was in India’s opening innings when Sharma scored his second century of the tournament, putting India on a sure footing in their campaign. The Men in Blue scored 336-5 after rain stopped play in the 45th over, Shankar won a referral and Mohammed Amir got the wind back into his bowling, taking three strong Indian wickets in his death over spell, returning with applaudable figure of 3/46.
It was Rohit’s day more than anyone else’s, despite Amir recovering from opening spell inaction. Decked with 14 fours and three sixes, Sharma’s 100 runs bespoke of his signature pull shots, hooks, cuts and glides to nullify the much-feared Pakistan pace battery.
Though India was on a sound score by the time he left the middle, Sharma was furious with himself for his pre-meditated bagel shot caught at short fine leg by Wahab just when he was looking to overreach Finch’s 153 in this tournament. His 140 runs came in 113 balls with 14 fours and 3 sixes. It was nonchalant class, steering clear of the bad balls, avoiding risks, rotating the strike and punctuating it with speed and correctness that came into play after Ahmed elected to bowl, lured in by the expected juice in the pitch aided and abetted by the overcast conditions.
Nothing, meanwhile, worked as planned for Pakistan in the initial phase with Amir returning wicketless from his first two spells and both Hasan Ali and Wahab Riaz pretty much doing the same. Alarmingly for Pakistan, both its lead bowlers Amir and Wahab got two official warnings from the umpire for running dangerously onto the pitch. Three warnings amount to a suspension from the game.
Ironically, however, it was the warning that came to a harried Pakistan’s defence when Wahab decided to come round the wicket in his post warning delivery to upset KL Rahul’s concentration and luring him to err. Rahul, wanting to guide it through the covers, spooned it up to Babar Azam instead for a convenient catch when India was steadying up to a 300 plus score and Rahul was making a mark at 57 in 78 balls with three fours and two sixes.
Hardik Pandya’s cameo of 26 runs in 18 balls, with him wielding his bat more like Bhim’s legendary gadaa than the blade of the game, cut into expectations as he decided to hit Amir out of the field falling short by a few inches as Shoaib Malik jumped into the air to catch him at the long on boundary, giving Amir his first breakthrough in his third spell.
Pandya’s departure brought in the vintage and golden pair of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli to the middle to loud cheers but did not live up to the billing as Dhoni, wanting to speed up the pace in the last five overs of the game. Amir got his second man in Dhoni who made a huge swipe outside the off-stump going straight into the gloves of Ahmed at a measly score of one, denting his finisher tag on the biggest stage of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Kohli silently scampered to his half century, second consecutive one in this tournament, when India was 278 and in the 44th over.
But just when both sides had gathered steam for extreme round of action in the ultimate five overs, the rain came down to hold up proceedings and excitement for a bit but not before a referral by India showed up that Shankar not being out as declared.
The rain break had Amir on fire again, as he took out man of the moment Kohli in the most crucial of death overs when he could have led the Indian score line over the 350 mark. But that was not to be and as he thought he edged Amir’s short bouncer to Ahmed on an overhead shot and walked before the umpire could raise his finger, inviting pats on the back for fair play, by the Pakistani players.
