Asia Cup review: India school Pakistan, get answers to many questions in 228-run victory

In the end, the long wait was worth it. The numerous weather interruptions, the tremendous work by the tireless and lion-hearted ground staff at the R Premadasa Stadium, the thin attendance due to unrealistic ticket prices insisted upon by the Pakistan Cricket Board despite the insistence otherwise of the Sri Lankan authorities – they all became footnotes on Monday night. The ungainly reserve day earmarked for just this one out of six Super Four matches eventually did the trick, preventing the marquee contest between India and Pakistan from meeting a watery end.

India tick all boxes

Actually, make that a marquee no-contest. This was one-way traffic all the way from the time Babar Azam won the toss and asked India to bat. First with the bat as the top order flexed its muscles, and then with the ball as pace and spin came seamlessly together, India bossed over Pakistan, speeding to a record 228-run victory in a match that spanned nearly 32 hours between first ball and last.

Along the way, Rohit Sharma’s men found answers to numerous questions. The ability of the top order to negotiate Pakistan’s exceptional pace attack as a whole and left-armer Shaheen Shah Afridi in particular. The fitness of KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah, playing their first One-Day Internationals since going under the surgeon’s knife. The efficacy of Kuldeep Yadav’s left-arm wrist-spin. All these boxes were ticked in emphatic style, with panache and nonchalance and chutzpah and elan as Pakistan were completely schooled.

It's hard to say which one of these developments would have given India the greatest delight. Was it how Rohit and his opening partner Shubman Gill laid into Afridi and took him for 31 runs in his first three overs? Was it in Virat Kohli getting to within two of Sachin Tendulkar’s record 49 ODI tons? Was it Rahul, a late inclusion against Pakistan following an untimely injury to Shreyas Iyer, marking his first competitive appearance since May 1 with a subliminal hundred? Was it Bumrah, all fire and brimstone on his return to ODI cricket after 14 months? Was it Kuldeep’s five-wicket haul, in a wonderful display of craft and control and cunning? All of them, Rohit will answer unequivocally.

Iyer’s misfortune Rahul’s boon

Amidst these glittering rays of incandescent luminescence lay one scattered dark cloud – the back spasms that prevented Iyer from taking his appointed place in the XI. Iyer has had a history of back issues, returning to action after rest and rehab more than once and then immediately suffering a relapse. Surgery to the offending part in London in April, it was believed, would rid him of the problem permanently, but Iyer’s comeback has lasted precisely two games. On Sunday, just minutes before the toss, he complained of back spasms during pre-match training and was withdrawn from the game. While there has been no official word since on how serious the injury is, it is unlikely that Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid won’t be more than a trifle concerned. They will have to decide if it’s worth going in with Iyer for the World Cup, hoping that the injury won’t resurface, or bite the bullet and plump for Tilak Verma, the left-handed 20-year-old who is one of the four unnamed reserves for the World Cup.

Iyer’s misfortune paved the way for Rahul’s comeback. Contrary to expectations, the think-tank had opted to stick with Ishan Kishan for the wicketkeeper-batsman’s role on Sunday, reward for his excellent 82 under pressure, batting for the first time at No. 5, in Pallekele the previous Saturday. That indicated that Rahul was no longer the automatic first choice in that position. But with Iyer pulling up short, the Karnataka man grabbed his chance with both hands, finally snapping a run of 16 innings without an ODI hundred dating back to March 2021.

Along the way, Rahul took the first giant steps towards dispelling any potential doubts surrounding his return to full fitness. He also unveiled the freedom and blithe spirit that make him such a delight to watch, but which he often frustratingly chooses to put in cold storage for reasons best known to him. His mental diffidence has relegated him to the sidelines in the longest as well as the shortest formats. But in the 50-over game, Rahul is totally at home away from the cares of tackling the new ball, pacing his innings to a nicety and instinctively unsheathing the booming strokes that liberally dot his repertoire.

That he was back on the park, and with the keeping gloves on, just five overs into the Pakistani chase after having batted for 145 minutes in enervating humidity, was a statement of intent and resolve. His message to the brains’ trust is clear – I am available for whatever you want of me, it’s up to you now.

Rahul-Kohli pairing, India’s highest partnership across Asia Cups

Rahul and Kohli enjoy batting with each other, and their chemistry was all too obvious during their unseparated 233-run alliance, India’s highest partnership across Asia Cups. Kohli is a master at when to hold back and when to explode; when Rahul was working through the gears, the former skipper was content to turn the strike over and sail in his younger partner’s wake. As the end of the innings neared, he went from third to sixth gear in the bat of an eyelid, his famed orthodoxy ensuring that even in the quest for quick runs, he lost neither shape nor impact.

Since his 1,020-day-drought-ending T20I hundred in the T20 Asia Cup last September, Kohli has turned the clock back like only he can. Monday’s was his sixth subsequent international hundred, this one particularly special because it made him only the second man in ODI history to make four straight centuries at the same venue – after Hashim Amla in Centurion. This was every bit as authoritative and intelligent as the other three, a masterclass in innings-building, in the art of constructing an ODI knock. It was typically Kohli – frenetic, frenzied running with ones quickly becoming twos, and then an explosive finish when his six-hitting abilities reasserted themselves. Occasionally, even the ultra-fit Kohli struggled in the Colombo humidity – he is human, after all! – but that dimmed neither his focus nor his decision-making. Ominous signs for the rest of the field with the World Cup imminent.

For Pakistan, it was a game to forget, marked by injuries, thankfully minor, to pacers Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf. They are too good a side not to bounce back from this humiliation, but this was a proper spanking if ever there was one.