Asia Cup: Plenty of takeaways for India despite top-order rout against Pak

There are two ways of looking at the no-result at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday (September 2) — that India got out of jail with a point to their name, or that they were deprived of the opportunity of successfully defending their competitive tally of 266.

There are also two ways of viewing India’s batting performance — that the top order’s vulnerability against high-quality pace is no figment of the imagination, or that they are no longer dependent only on the top three or four to get the job done.

A half-game washout sometimes throws up more points of discussion than a one-sided encounter that throws up a victor and, by extension, a vanquished. Never was this illustrated better than during India’s Asia Cup showdown with Pakistan, a non-match that lived up to the hype and the billing even if the elements conspired to prevent the game from devolving to its logical denouement.

The meltdown

Among the many talking points was whether India would have been better off chasing after Rohit won the toss, what with rain in the air. Babar Azam, Pakistan’s captain, confirmed that he, too, would have batted first if he had the option. So, it has to be assumed that the pitch dictated so. After all, even early in the piece, the two-paced nature of the surface was evident; the uneven bounce was pronounced enough to confirm that batting second wouldn’t have been a walk in the park.

Brass tacks time then. Between them, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf accounted for all 10 Indian wickets — only the second time in Indo-Pak One-Day International history that that has happened. The only other instance came in 2004, at the Champions Trophy in Birmingham, when Mohammad Sami, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdul Razzaq, and Shoaib Akhtar joined hands to send Sourav Ganguly’s men crashing to 200 all out. Pakistan registered a nervy three-wicket win with three deliveries to spare on that occasion. Who’s to say that we wouldn’t have had another thriller in Pallekele?

Afridi struck the first vital blows by evicting Rohit and Virat Kohli after the first of three rain breaks. The Indian captain’s travails against the incoming delivery from a left-arm quick are no secret; in the 4.2 overs before the rain first came down, he had looked at ease, ensuring that his left foot went down the track rather than towards his off-stump, thereby allowing him the freedom to play through the line instead of around the front pad. Upon resumption, Afridi served him two outswingers and, having set him up, sneaked one through the gate as he got the ball to shape back in.

Barely had Rohit taken off his pads than Kohli followed him to the hut, perhaps a victim of the two-paced track. He played a little away from his body but since the ball didn’t exactly rush on, Kohli could get only the inside edge rather than the middle of the bat. Afridi wasn’t complaining, as the ball rushed off the pad onto the sticks. Two big fish in the bag, India in a spot.

The discipline of Afridi and Naseem completely shackled Shubman Gill, but Shreyas Iyer looked in the mood on his comeback after six months on the sidelines. A couple of sparkling boundaries suggested he was in the mood until a cracking pull off Rauf unerringly picked out mid-wicket. Gill perished soon after, also to Rauf as he became the second batsman to play on, and at 66 for four, Indian voices were silenced in the stands and on the grass banks, reasonably well populated but definitely not a full house like India-Pakistan games usually tend to be.

The recovery

There was a fair turnout of Pakistani spectators who believed the party was on. After all, Ishan Kishan was batting at No. 5 for the first time in his short ODI career; Hardik Pandya hasn’t been in the best batting touch of late. And India carry the somewhat justified reputation of being a top-reliant batting unit; so 66 for four couldn’t be good news for them, could it?

It’s in adversity that character often shines through, and that’s what happened for the next hour and three quarters. Kishan, only playing because KL Rahul is yet to recover from a groin injury, was in complete command after initial hesitancy, reining in his frenetic hustle-and-bustle in deference to the situation. Pandya was busy without taking any risks, and as each ball was negotiated with a broad bat in defence or a scything willow in attack, Pakistani shoulders dropped a little.

Having bided their time, the left-right combination who boast an excellent understanding, courtesy their long association with Mumbai Indians, grew in confidence. Pandya’s return to run-scoring ways — his 87 was a fantastic effort even in isolation — was heartening, but of greater long-term significance was Kishan’s composure in the middle order. Somewhat of a dasher at the top of the tree, where he made a double-hundred in Bangladesh last December, the little left-hander batted without inhibition but never looked out of place or in danger of a false stroke. It’s more than likely that once Rahul is fit and available, he will slot into No. 5, but to have the knowledge that in Kishan, there is an adequate replacement in the middle order should the need arise, must have delighted Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid no end.

India’s lower order contributed little of note — despite the inclusion of Shardul Thakur at No. 8 instead of specialist speedster Mohammed Shami — to reiterate that it’s the top seven that must embrace greater responsibility, but there were promising signs from Jasprit Bumrah. Ideally, Bumrah and the team management would have loved a few overs under his belt on his ODI comeback, but that wasn’t to be. But clearly, the Gujarat quick has worked hard on his batting and that manifested itself in a couple of brazen strokes against the faster bowlers, who were as stunned as Bumrah’s dressing room was delighted.

Pakistan reinforced their ODI credentials and set a stall as one of the strong favourites for the World Cup on the back of their bowling, but around the gloom of their top-order meltdown and the doom of a no-result, India had takeaways aplenty too. That’s not bad returns for a half evening of cricket, is it?