World Cup: How India’s cohesive bowling group led to a sensational takedown of Pakistan

Until that one hour, it was Even Stevens, maybe even slightly pro-Pakistan. After 29.3 overs, Babar Azam’s men had established a firm base, 155 for two, on a slightly tricky deck where the odd ball kept low, where free shot-making wasn’t advisable. A total in the region of 260 seemed on the cards, a tally that would have given Pakistan enough to challenge India in the eighth World Cup encounter between the two sides.

India weren’t bereft of ideas, even when Babar and Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan’s two most experienced and accomplished batsmen, were putting on 82 for the third wicket. The situation hadn’t yet gotten out of hand; the runs weren’t coming at a frenetic pace, India knew they were one wicket away from redressing the balance.

Rohit Sharma wasn’t searching for inspiration, he wasn’t panicking. He didn’t need to. He had a wonderful attack at his disposal, a bouquet of match-winners who could get the job done. But even he must have been stunned at the suddenness with which events unfolded at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Déjà vu moment

Just last month, in Colombo, a similar hour of madness had enveloped Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup. With Mohammed Siraj assuming the role of the enforcer, India bowled the hosts out for 50 at the R Premadasa Stadium in front of a shell-shocked, capacity home crowd that could scarcely believe what was happening. Siraj finished with six for 21 in seven overs, Sri Lanka’s essay lasting just 15.2 overs.

In a throwback to that non-contest, Pakistan imploded in similar fashion with Siraj again the catalyst, though he wasn’t the singular destroyer. In one of those famous gut-feel decisions that have made Rohit such a fantastic captain, the skipper brought the Hyderabadi quick back in a bid to scuttle the Babar-Rizwan association. Siraj didn’t disappoint, catching the Pakistani captain flat-footed one ball after he had brought up his maiden ODI half-century against India. Perhaps a little too relaxed mentally, Babar played a lazy stroke to be bowled off-stump, a dismissal that opened the floodgates.

The hallmark of a top side is its ability to realise when the door has been prised open, and how to move in for the kill. India gathered that Saud Shakeel might be vulnerable to pressure, an omnipresent entity in India-Pakistan clashes and more so in a World Cup encounter. They also sussed out that Rizwan apart, Pakistan projected more than just a touch of fragility and that if they could land another quick sucker punch, the soft underbelly that is the lower middle-order would stand helplessly exposed.

Bowling jewels at India's disposal

Rohit will be the first to acknowledge the wealth of riches at his disposal. In Siraj, he has a terrific exponent of cross-seam bowling; even when there is no help from the track, the cross-seam ball can either scoot through on pitching or rise unexpectedly, bringing multiple modes of dismissal into play. In Jasprit Bumrah, he has a virtuoso who is adept at picking up wickets at different stages of the innings with different variations, almost all of which he has mastered. Kuldeep Yadav isn’t just a crafty purveyor of wrist spin, he is a proven wicket-taker. Ravindra Jadeja is the proverbial hustler who gets through his overs at breakneck speed, who is quick through the air but who can slow it down for variety, and whose accuracy is almost beyond parallel. And then there is Hardik Pandya, always the game trier, unafraid to experiment and happy to concede the odd boundary in the quest for wickets. It’s a combination hard to match because of how versatile and different it is. It’s a combination that came together to rip the heart and soul out of the Pakistani batting, sending it on an inexorable tailspin that screamed only one logical denouement.

Targeting the Pakistani duo

It's no secret that Pakistan’s batting revolves around Babar and Rizwan. Yes, there will be occasional contributions from the others, but they can’t carry the innings along like these two right-handers can. Knock one over, and you have made a huge dent; get rid of both of them, and the Pakistan batting is ripe for the picking.

So, when Babar departed, India came charging and snarling, attacking relentlessly. Their fielding lifted itself, the men in the cordon came in tighter to prevent easy singles, the bowlers got through their overs quickly and tidily and Pakistan felt the noose tighten. Inexorably, unforgivingly. Something was bound to give, and that happened 17 deliveries after Babar’s fall when Kuldeep struck, pushing Shakeel on to the backfoot and winning a leg before shout on review. In the same over, Iftikhar Ahmed perished, gloving a sweep on to his stumps. From 155 for two, it was 166 for five. What next?

Next was Rizwan, cleaned up by a beauty from Player of the Match Bumrah, one short of his fifty. A deceptive off-cutter that turned late and rushed through the gate to rattle timber. Almost done now. But Bumrah wasn’t. He produced an absolute beauty, full pace, jagging away just that little bit, to defeat Shadab Khan’s outside edge and slam into off pole. What can’t this man do? How does he return at a flash point and produce a second spell of 3-0-5-2? Was he really out for nearly a year with a stress fracture of the back?

That crazy passage produced eight wickets for 36 runs in 80 deliveries, which put India firmly on their path to 8-0 against Pakistan. The humongous gathering at the venue simply couldn’t stop screaming. Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s team director, complained later that the iconic Dil Dil Pakistan, the Pakistani equivalent of Chak de India, wasn’t played even once on the public address system. Truth to tell, the Pakistanis hardly gave the DJ a chance to do so.

Rohit’s sensational takedown of Pakistan’s pace attack formalised India’s seven-wicket win with 19.3 overs to spare, but this was a win well and truly set up by the brilliantly cohesive bowling group masterminded with aplomb by Bumrah. If India are sitting pretty at the top of the points table with three wins in as many games, much of it has to do with the bowlers bowling Australia out for 199, restricting Afghanistan to 272 for eight on a batting beauty and sending Pakistan plummeting to 191 all out.