T20 World Cup: Classic India-Pak match displayed craft, control of pace bowlers

India versus Pakistan in World Cup play seldom produces a classic. Perhaps it’s the weight of expectations, perhaps it’s the magnitude of the stage, perhaps it’s that, for the most part, India have maintained their discipline and kept their emotions in check.

There have been notable exceptions – such as the two clashes in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. The first of those ended in a tie, India winning the ‘bowl-out’ by a 3-0 scoreline more akin to football tie-breakers. The second, the famous final, went the distance until S Sreesanth positioned himself under the ball at short fine-leg, made Joginder Sharma a household name and consigned Misbah-ul-Haq to a lifetime of regret, India squeezing home by five runs.

A year and a half back, another thriller made the list, Virat Kohli fashioning an extraordinary last-ball heist with an unbeaten 82, arguably one of the finest efforts by the acknowledged chasemeister, at the MCG.

Ferocious defence

A fresh entry was added to that slowly burgeoning chart at the unlikely setting of Eisenhower Park in New York, which houses the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium. In front of an unmistakable pro-India crowd that made up a sizeable portion of an audience of 34,028, India defended their sub-par 119 with the ferocity of a tigress protecting her cubs, eking out a six-run win to turbocharge their quest for a place in the Super Eight stage.

With two wins from as many outings, and games against United States and Canada to follow, India have a foot and a half in the next phase. Pakistan, shocked the other day by the Americans, have lost two of two and must defeat both Canada and Ireland handsomely and hope for other results to go their way if they are to join their neighbours in the next stage in the Caribbean.

This was a game that began under dark, foreboding skies and ended in bright sunshine, the two different ends of the weather spectrum reflecting the mood in the respective camps in a match that was notable for the craft and control shown by pace bowlers from both sides.

Fast bowlers in action

It’s not often that eight fast bowlers are the talking point in a T20 game, certainly not after the punishment the bowling fraternity copped at IPL 2024. But if Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir and Haris Rauf ensured that India didn’t build handsomely on their mid-innings tally of 81 for three in 10 overs, India responded in kind through the peerless Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya.

It's not often that 119 is successfully defended in a 20-over game, even when the odds are heavily stacked in favour of the bowlers. This time around, they weren’t so. There was assistance for the quicks, of course, as has been the norm at the Nassau County Stadium, but it wasn’t pronouncedly so. It wasn’t as much as it had been in the previous games here, it wasn’t even as much in the second half of Sunday’s showdown as it had been in the first.

That alone should be enough to put the heroics of the Indian pace quartet in perspective. When the Pakistanis bowled under the grey skies, the ball nipped around considerably even though the pitch was shorn of grass and was hosting a match for the second day in a row. Despite the purchase that the quicks extracted, India began strongly through Rishabh Pant, relishing his elevation to No. 3, and Axar Patel, who enjoyed his temporary promotion to No. 4.

At the midway mark, India were well on course for 140, at the very least, as good as a winning score. That they were allowed to add only 38 runs in the second half of their batting stint was a testimony to the brilliance of the Pakistani attack and the two-paced nature of the track, with more than the odd ball stopping on pitching and therefore making driving on the up an impossible proposition.

By the time Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan walked out in their quest for 120, the clouds had disappeared, and the sun was out in all its glory. The odd high white tufts in the sky would offer no joy to the Indian bowlers. They had to be on top of their game, treat each ball as if their survival in the competition depended on it, and not get too exuberant when a wicket came their way or not too distraught when a boundary or two was struck. Balance would be the key. Balance, and patience, discipline, persistence, composure.

Bumrah – first among equals

In Bumrah, India have a champion who effortlessly marries all these traits. He is clearly the first among equals – scratch that, there is no equal, in the Indian team or outside – and had to both be the stock and the shock bowler, inasmuch as the 20-over format allows that. His four overs would be crucial. How would Pakistan negotiate him?

Not very intelligently, as it turned out, though Bumrah’s brilliance certainly had plenty to do with it. In his first over, he saw Rizwan put down by Shivam Dube at long-leg. In his next, he produced a beauty that an indecisive Babar poked at and put slip in business. 2-0-9-1 was only half the job done. Two more overs left, two massive overs in the context of the contest.

Return Bumrah for over No. 15, Pakistan 80 for three. With his first ball, he cleaned up Rizwan and conceded just three. It was the first of six outstanding overs by the Indians, two of them from Bumrah. From 40 required in 36, the rate climbing steadily, and by the time the lynchpin returned for over No. 19, 21 were needed off 12. Bumrah’s over went for three – among them a leg bye – and accounted for Iftikhar Ahmed with the last ball of his spell. 4-0-14-3. Thank you very much, game done and dusted, Arshdeep defending 18 off the last over with relative ease.

India’s attack isn’t about Bumrah alone, but with Bumrah firing on all cylinders, it is a potent and versatile, vibrant and thriving entity. Twice in this tournament, against Ireland and Pakistan, Bumrah has been the battering ram, evidenced by two Player of the Match awards. Maybe he will dial back and allow others their place under the sun? Maybe the sun will rise in the west tomorrow? Ha, indeed.