Anticipated Clash – A Deflated Balloon…!!!

“Raillu kattas (A Punjabi word which means a common player) rarely performs under pressure…” an excerpt from a series of tweets before the D-Day by The Wazir-e-Azam of Pakistan Imran Khan this pretty much sums up the story for Pakistan in a much hyped encounter that resulted in a deflated balloon.

With over 800,000 ticket applications and likely to get 1.5 billion viewership the stakes were high with the Toss flipped in favour of Pakistan then the National Anthems which gave goosebumps and a different feeling all together for the fans , then entered a new pair to open with all the questioning going around of how this gap is going to get filled, KL Rahul had different intentions it looked as if he was there to settle in there being very watchful during the Initial overs with an experienced yet composed Rohit Sharma barring the scare of Mohammad Amir during the Initial overs.

In-depth analysis:-

Good tight lines by the X-Factor Mohammad Amir at the start of the innings but something uncertain happened with him getting warned twice by On field Umpire Bruce Oxenford for running on the pitch(DANGER AREA) which the replays suggest Amir was aggressively lazy in his follow through which sort of disturbed his momentum.

The Score was 46-0 in 9 overs,first ball of the 10th over Rohit Sharma hits a ball from Wahab Riaz to deep mid wicket , calls for two with danger at the striker’s end where Rohit Sharma was gone for all money , Fakhar Zaman threw the ball at the Non-striker’s end and a chance gone begging when Rohit was at a mere score of 32.

Again with the Luck favouring Mr. Sharma in the 11th over this time was Shadab Khan, a wavered throw to the keeper and he was saved.

With 12 Overs in the game and Pakistan had there 5th bowler into the attack that shows how sceptical Pakistan was about their approach. But what it did was unstelled their main spin bowler as he gave 14 odd in his first over.

One of the Captivating moment came in the 27th over of the game where the 2nd ball of Hassan Ali’s over went on for a Six over covers which enlightened the memories of the Great Sachin Tendulkar when he clobbered one of Shoaib Akhtar during 2003 World cup.

With an opening stand of 136 then came the first breakthrough for Pakistan from Wahab Riaz who changed his coming round the wicket after being officially warned for the 2nd time for running on the pitch.

After that came the Indian Captain Virat Kohli who sort of played the role of a sheet anchor with Rohit playing the Aggressor role. Last ball of the 30th Over marked another Century added to the tally of Vice Captain who was all in readiness for his 4th double Hundered but unfortunately got out trying to play a scoop over fine leg caught by Wahab Riaz on the bowling of Hassan Ali , who in the end resulted giving most runs by a Pakistani bowler in a word cup fixture.

Hardik Pandya played a brisk knock of 26 in 19 balls got out playing the Helicopter shot over long on, laying way for the inventor MS Dhoni who did manage to add 1 run to the total that sort of jammed the indian juggernaut who was aiming nothing less than a 350 regard some good death bowling by the Pakistani bowlers especially Mohammad Amir.

With Rain coming into the spotlight for some time with 20 balls to spare.

With an hour of play washed due to rain Indian Batting unit came back to add more to their total but the wicket of Virat Kohli in the 48th over walking through on a sharp bouncer by Amir whereas the Replays suggested there was No Contact with the Bat after that Kohli was seen disappointed as he looked upon his bat and heard a creak sound from his bat.

With nothing much left for the inexperienced Shankar and Kedhar Jadhav with the bat India managed to get 336 on the board, posting a mammoth target of 337.

In reply Pakistan was watchful during there start where in the 3rd over of Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s spell he pulled off his Hamstring and went off which was a big blow as he was in his first spell only but it came as a blessing in disguise for the 3-D Vijay Shankar who in his very first ball of his world cup got Imam-Ul-Haq LBW with an inswinger.

But then there ship was steadied by Fakhar and a promising Babar Azam with a partnership of 104 runs which created a bit of unrestlessness in the Indian Camp where there was no Bhuvi to bowl anymore.

But then in the 24th Over a jaffa from Kuldeep Yadav got the better of Babar after which Fakhar also got out in the very next over of Kuldeep with a nothing shot.

Then the Pakistani contingent fell like a Pack of Cards with Hafeez and Shoaib Malik getting out on consecutive balls by Hardik Pandya.

Sarfaraz also chopped one on to his stumps becoming the 2nd scalp of Shankar then the Rain Gods came again with Pakistan reeling at 166-6 after 35 overs.

With the play started again only to complete the mere formalities Pakistan got a Monstrous target of 136 in 5overs where they managed to get 212 after the 40 overs

With Indian comfortably winning by 89 runs.

The Conclusion:-

As Anticipated it has all the elements only till first few overs and a might fight by Babar and Fakhar but all in all it ended up being an One sided Encounter revealing the same story of Pakistan getting deflated in crunch games.

WHAT NEXT:-

FOR PAKISTAN

With four games to go they have to win all of them with there next with South Africa they have to up their Ante and have to play reasonably well and with a positive approach.

FOR INDIA

A bit of worry with Bhuvi not able to play next 3 games with Shikhar already sitting out Shami will have a chance to prove himself and next fixture against Afghanistan… India find themselves looking to confirm their semifinal birth….!!

With that time to say goodbye will come with analysis of other games as well….!!!

Keep reading…!!

Signing off

Milan Sharma