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India 8, Pak 0: Dominance on the big stage continues
India dominated the match against Pakistan, winning by seven wickets with 117 balls to spare. India now has a record of 8-0 against Pakistan in World Cup matches.
It wasn’t a contest. Not even close. But the sea of blue that filled the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday got what it wanted — some Jasprit Bumrah magic, some Kuldeep Yadav perfection and a knock of the kind that only Rohit Sharma can play.
The fans, screaming and savouring the carnival-like atmosphere that enveloped this sprawling stadium, saw India seal an easy seven-wicket win against Pakistan in a contest that never rose to match the pre-game hype. So utterly dominant were India that after skittling Pakistan out for 191 in 42.5 overs, they chased down the target with 117 balls to spare in front of a large and partisan crowd.
India now have three wins out of three at this World Cup, notching up comprehensive displays in each of these games and clearly looking good to be in the fray come the final week of the tournament.
That India would have it so easy against Pakistan, a team which does oscillate between the sublime and the ridiculous, wasn’t expected going into the game. But Babar Azam’s team offered more of the latter on Saturday. They had registered a record chase against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad last Tuesday, but their abject capitulation here suggests a pressing need to go back to the drawing board.
So great was the gulf between the two teams that the result was nearly a foregone conclusion by the end of the first innings. It certainly didn’t do justice to the frenzied build-up, the mad scramble for tickets and the exorbitant flight and hotel rates for months leading up to this game.
The results have been one-sided in the ODI World Cup, India’s record against Pakistan now extending to 8-0 (a World Cup record). It hasn’t mattered which the better team is — Pakistan had the superior record in bilateral contests in the 1990s for instance — because India just seem to win when they meet at a World Cup.
When asked about India’s dominant head-to-head record in the pre-match press conference on Friday, Azam had sent out the right message. “I don’t focus on the past; I try to focus on the future. Such records are made to be broken and we try to break them. We will try to give a good performance on the day,” he had said.
But by putting in performances like that, Pakistan are getting no closer to ending their 31-year drought (they first faced each other in the World Cup in 1992). Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur admitted to their failings on Saturday.
“Yeah, I just think we were a little bit timid tonight with our overall performance. I would have liked us to really take the game on just a little bit more. It’s a massive occasion, as we know, but I think we just went into our shells just a little bit,” he said at the post-match press conference.
Arthur conceded the partisan crowd — Pakistan fans haven’t yet been able to get visas to travel for the World Cup — was also a factor. “Look, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. It didn’t seem like an ICC event 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. So yes, that does play a role, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse.”
India’s victory on Saturday had multiple protagonists. The numbers offer an apt reflection as Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep and Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets apiece. There were no demons in the surface for Pakistan to fold so cheaply. Especially after Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, their two best batters, provided a strong foundation with an 82-run partnership. Once Siraj dismissed Azam though, there was no resistance as Kuldeep and Bumrah ran through their middle order like a knife through butter.
The chase was spearheaded by skipper Rohit Sharma’s 63-ball 86, laced with six fours and as many sixes. While the Indian top order has been circumspect against Shaheen Afridi’s induckers in the past, there was no hassle on Saturday. Sharma set the tone by clipping his very first ball on the pads for a four through square leg, never missing an opportunity to find the boundary and inflict more pain in the Pakistan camp. India romped to 100/2 in 13.5 overs even as he raced to a 36-ball half-century. Sharma’s blitzkrieg, which ended 14 runs shy of a second successive century, made the small target look even smaller.
The day had begun with eminent Indian singers performing patriotic numbers an hour before the game, and it ended with scores of Indian fans belting out ‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’ in celebration of a rousing victory.
