India vs Pakistan: On a day of wrong predictions, India get everything right

India vs Pakistan, arguably the world’s biggest sporting rivalry, in a World Cup and at the largest cricket stadium — at the risk of sounding clichéd, it couldn’t have gotten bigger than this. But in the end, while the 1,32,000 fans lived up to the expectations, the cricket game or more specifically, the Pakistan team were found wanting.

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Besides being a meeting between the two arch-rivals, it was also a contest between the ICC’s top two ODI sides. Naturally, showing no regard for India’s 7-0 World Cup record, experts and fans predicted a tightly-contested game.

Captain Babar Azam was confident Pakistan would break the hoodoo of seven defeats to India in seven World Cup games. “There is always a first time,” he declared on the eve of the mega clash.

Former India player Sanjay Manjrekar, while doing the pitch report, reckoned a run-fest was in the offing as a 750kg roller had knocked the life out of the pitch, rendering it “flat”.

For media personnel covering the game, in stadia and outside, the expectation was for a long night of work which would not end before the graveyard shift.

To their relief, Pakistani fans’ frustration, and the delight of the Indians, the game was over by dinner time with Men in Green bowled out for a paltry 191 and Team India completing the chase in just 30.3 overs for a seven-wicket win.

Another comprehensive victory for Men in Blue over Pakistan in a space of over one month and after their 228-run thrashing of Babar Azam and Co. in the Asia Cup. Another result that solidified the belief that the India-Pakistan rivalry is not what it used to be.

That was quick. India too good for the Pakistanis in every department.
Bowlers were outstanding thecway they came back after Pak were 155/2, and Rohit Sharma just made it a walk in the park. Too good. Proud of Team India. #IndvsPak pic.twitter.com/NFlvUpP4rj

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) October 14, 2023

All of this, however, was because of Pakistan’s unimaginable batting collapse where they went from 155/2 to 191 all-out.

The collapse began in the 29th over before the innings folded in the 42.5 overs and it was in these middle overs that India landed the decisive blow on Pakistan. Ironically, It was also a period that haunted India in ODIs as they struggled to contain teams and take wickets.

The Pakistan game and the previous two matches in the 2023 World Cup bear witness to the fact that India are probably the most well-rounded team in the tournament. Rohit Sharma’s blistering 86 runs and Shreyas Iyer’s 53 not out in the comfortable chase was just an extension of India’s prowess.

Mindless batting

Before all of this, Pakistan made a decent start to the match despite playing in a cauldron where over a lakh Indian fans, by all estimates, passionately sang the national anthem which could have easily sent a shiver down Pakistan’s spine.

The openers scored 41 and Pakistan were 73/2 when Babar and Mohammad Rizwan began their partnership. The duo, Pakistan batting’s mainstay, stitched 82 runs together as Babar hit his first fifty against India. But the runs came at 4.77 and this is where Pakistan lost the match.

Between 19th to 27 overs, when Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav bowled together, only 29 runs were scored in eight overs. There was rarely an attempt by the experienced duo to put the Indian spinners under any sort of pressure. Rizwan, who just the other night smashed a century to help Pakistan register a World Cup record chase against Sri Lanka, was seen playing against his natural game, offering unexpected respect to the Indian spinners.

“They weren’t trying too much. Rizwan didn’t sweep me a lot so I wanted to make him play the bad shot,” Kuldeep Yadav would say in the mid-innings break after returning match figures of 2/35 in 10 overs on a flat track.

Once the pressure was built and Pakistan dug themselves into a hole, Rohit started to rotate the bowlers. Babar and Rizwan saw it as an opportunity to release the pressure but only ended up becoming victims of their slow partnership. Babar was cleaned up by Mohammed Siraj trying to play his trusted cut shot which has always been a run accumulator for the Pakistan captain.

Kuldeep gobbled up Saud Shakeel and Iftikhar Ahmed in quick succession with deliveries that skidded on and highlighted the new strengths of the spinner.

THE BEST MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Whole stadium stands up when #Rizwan got bowled by BUMRAH

GOOSEBUMPS OVERLOADED#INDvPAK #INDvsPAK #indvspak2023 #RohitSharma #IsraelFightsBack #Isarael #PKMKBForever #ViratKohli #ThankYouBCCI #HBDAshokUncle #Gaza #RohitSharma #BCCI pic.twitter.com/NSH971aiFm

— Ajay Singodiya (@Singodiya2001) October 15, 2023

Rizwan was then castled by Bumrah with a delivery that was probably the best in the World Cup so far. A slow off-cutter. Shadab Khan lost his stumps soon after and that was it for Pakistan’s batting.

Substance to Mickey Arthur’s complaint

After what was nothing less than an embarrassing defeat for one of the tournament favourites, the Pakistan team’s director of cricket Mickey Arthur minced no words, taking aim at BCCI for its poor organisation of the World Cup. Visa issues have delayed the arrival of Pakistan fans and journalists.

“It didn’t seem like an ICC event, tonight, to be brutally honest. It seemed like a bilateral series; it seemed like a BCCI event. I didn’t hear Dil Dil Pakistan coming through the microphones too often tonight,” Arthur said after the match.

Arthur raised valid points. The treatment India have meted out to Pakistan fans and journalists is not befitting of a World Cup host. But it’s a topic deserving a larger discussion and unjust as it may have been, mentioning it after a big defeat will only come across as an attempt to paper over Pakistan’s faults.

That is something the team management wouldn’t want to do now. After all, there’s a long way to go in the tournament. Despite the pressure of an India-Pakistan game and playing in front of a big crowd, Men in Blue prevailed easily because they didn’t play the occasion, but the team they had in front of them. Pakistan would do well if they followed the same.