When It Happened for the First Time

 A lot was on offer and on stake on the 24th of October, 2021. But, it was the men in green who collected all credits to offer themselves a moment of pristine glory and do what senior greats like Misbah-ul-Haq could not do. Yes, Pakistan vs India has been a contest of high standards, sensitivity and emotions. The day finally came and Pakistan ended their unbeaten streak against them in T20 World Cups. Shaheen Shah Afridi, Babar Azam and Mohd Rizwan outdid the whole of the Indian contingent to secure a thrashing 10 wicket victory. It did not go well for India and let us talk about the match in phases.

Shaheen Shines

The young speedster, Shaheen Afridi, was the key player for Pakistan before the match and he proved why. In a match of different hearts but one origin, Shaheen was also the man of the match. He did not need a second invitation and sent back Rohit Sharma in his first over for a golden duck. In his next over, he cleaned up KL Rahul in the corridor. He obtained pace and swing in the start which worked in his favour although he was surprised by Suryakumar Yadav, who collected two powerful hits against him. Towards the back end of the innings, he dismissed skipper Virat Kohli in the 19th over, where, going into the 20th over, a set Virat Kohli could have proved dangerous.

Suryakumar Yadav's Shorter than expected Cameo

While Suryakumar Yadav is known for playing long till he fires, it is also known that it does not take him more than a weak position to start the blazing firecrackers in India. Be it hitting Afridi for a hooked six or smacking a four, his aggressive intentions were crystal clear and warned bowlers against him. But, his magic ended sooner than it should have been as he departed, looking to ramp a short ball. Probably, the third wicket in the powerplay changed the game. Had Yadav stopped there and let Kohli use his bat to take the doubles and he just with singles, could have also built a good partnership on a pitch where a set batter is more valuable than an incoming hard-hitter even in the form of his life.

Pant and Kohli Give Some Hope

Rishabh Pant is not used to batting in the powerplay or as early as the 7th over. In contrast to this fact, he proved why he is preferred as a middle order batter. Although he got a slow start to his innings, he needed just the two sixes to take off. He brought his trademark again when he smashed two single handed sixes. Sadly for Indians, he got out trying to sweep a full dipping ball from Shadab Khan at 39 (before he could create panic in the Pakistan dugout). With the partnership with Kohli, he played the ball well and found gaps. On the other hand, VK got himself to rotating the strike in this period.

Kohli Masterclass Ends

All this while, when batters were coming and going, Virat held one end up and even the team knew those 57 runs were great runs even though they came at a strike rate of below 120. He did all in his range, from punching Afridi for a six in the offside to his elegant cover drives and converting singles into doubles. When it was the death time, it was all upon Jadeja and Kohli. In an attempt to up the tempo, since Jadeja was not having the best of the days with the bat, he got caught behind trying to ramp a slower bouncer ball.

Pandya and Bhuvi with Some Late Fire

Hardik Pandya came in at the fall of Kohli and, hence, he had a lot of runs to fill in the gap. Though not in the best ways, yet he played a short cameo of 7-ball-11 before he toe-ended a shot to Babar Azam. However, he indirectly affected 5 runs off a single delivery that he did not even hit. While trying to steal a bye, Pandya ran from the striker's end to retain strike for the next over. Once the keeper missed, the bowler threw a wild throw far beating both, the stumps and long off only to be helped into the boundary by the outfield. Then, Bhuvaneswar came in after Jadeja's wicket and used his experience to put the ball in the gap and push a couple of calls for braces. 

Pak Start with a Bang

Babar Azam and Mohd Rizwan started off in some manner. After being threatened by a lovely inswinging delivery from Bhuvaneswar, he smacked a four despite a commendable effort from Varun Chakravarthy and, on the very next ball took the aerial route for a pulled six. Both the openers blazed through the powerplay against pacers but kept it tight against the mystery spinner, Varun Chakravarthy, in his solitary over of the powerplay. This way, they managed to reach the end of the power-hitting-play at 43/0. Defending a target of 153, this was almost a horror start for the tournament favourites.  

An Off-day for Bowlers

Mohd Shami, Bhuvaneswar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Jadeja and Varun collectively form an unplayable bowling attack and one never sees a lineup of this potential in the batters' game these days. However, they were not at their best on the day they were most needed. While losing pace to injury has been a long term disadvantage for Bhuvi now, Shami never got his lines right. Bumrah was mostly economical but leaked runs when pressure was building at crucial points. Jadeja and Varun managed to keep the game in balance before the opposing skipper broke the shackles to help a six off Jadeja and then carnage continued from then on.

Finally

The hard work of all these years paid off to make Pakistan now a terrorizing sight in world cricket. Had they been told it would be this easy to bang their all-time rivals, they would have laughed. But, the underdogs did it. Both, Babar and Rizwan were never dismissed to take their nation to a ten-wicket thrashing. Also, Kohli, then, first time got out against Pakistan in World Cups. 

However, learning from their mistakes, India are up for a tough challenge against New Zealand. Regarding the fixtures, India are a tad lucky to be facing three of the group's worst teams- Namibia, Scotland and Afghanistan in the end. That gives them a 50-50 hope even if they lose to the Kiwis, which looks highly unlikely, seeing the score they put up when Rahul, Rohit and Jadeja- three of their best batters did not score well.