Epic showdown: Pakistan vs India Cricket encounter

   

P.C. Mint

The cricket match between Pakistan and India attracts the most viewers worldwide. After four years, Pakistan faced India in an ODI match. The cricket match is not watched by only fans of cricket in Pakistan or India but by fans of cricket all over the world. Pakistan faced their arch-rivals India on October 14, 2023, in Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, India.

In this afternoon match, India won the toss and decided to ball first. Pakistan made no change in the team, while Shubman Gill was brought back in after he recovered from illness. The openers of the Pakistan Cricket team, i.e., Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafiq, made a promising start before Abdullah Shafiq went back to dug out after scoring 20 runs on 24 balls with a strike rate of 83.33. Imam kept playing good cricket shorts with Babar Azam until he played a loosener and became the scalp of Hardik Pandya.

 

Babar Azam was joined by Muhammad Rizwan on the crease, and both of these batters provide stability to the middle order. The game seemed to be under Pakistan's control, but that was not the case as Babar Azam was bowled by Muhammad Siraj. The skipper scored 50 runs on 58 deliveries. After Babar Azam went back to dig out, the performance of the Pakistan batting line-up was pathetic.

The wicketkeeper batter, who played really well until Babar Azam was on the crease, started to play loose shots and was not able to absorb the pressure. Overall, Muhammad Rizwan played a good inning, except for the last few balls of 49 runs out of 69 balls.

Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmad, and Muhammad Nawaz were not able to contribute much, not even in double digits. Hasan Ali was able to score 12 runs.

Pakistan was only able to score 191 runs and lose all their wickets in 43 overs. This was a very disappointing score for Pakistan considering the batting line-up Pakistan has in light of Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, and Muhammad Rizwan.

In the second inning of the match, Pakistan has not a lot of runs to play with. But Shaheen was still able to pick Shubman Gill early, on 16 runs. Rohit Sharma did what he does best. He hit the ball all over the ground. Virat Kohli also went early to dug out Hassan Ali after scoring 16 runs. After Rohit Sharma was out on 86 runs in just 63 balls, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul finished the job for India.

India comprehensively won against Pakistan by seven wickets. For a complete scorecard, please visit the page at the below link.

 https://shorturl.at/ikzBQ

Teams standings after Pakistan vs India match is as follow:

   

Rank	Team	PLD	Won	Lost	NR	Points	Net RR
1	India	3	3	0	0	6	1.821
2	New Zealand	3	3	0	0	6	1.604
3	South Africa	2	2	0	0	4	2.36
4	Pakistan	3	2	0	0	4	-0.137
5	England	2	1	1	0	2	0.553
6	Bangladesh	3	1	2	0	2	-0.699
7	Sri Lanka	2	0	2	0	0	-1.161
8	Netherlands	2	0	2	0	0	-1.8
9	Australia	2	0	2	0	0	-1.846
10	Afghanistan	2	0	2	0	0	-1.907

Analysis: -  

If we analyze the current performance in this match, one could easily say that India played better than Pakistan, but there were little things that dragged Pakistan into this situation.

Pakistan started off brilliantly against the mighty balling attack of India. Both openers of Pakistan were playing proper cricket shorts and were not looking troubled at all until both openers played very loose shorts to get out.

Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in this match was top-notch, as he assessed the situation after the wicket of openers and did not let Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan play lofted shorts. Even though Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan scored respectable scores, in the context of the game, they scored at low strike rates of 86.21 and 71.01, respectively. Even though this might not be a bad strike rate, in the context of the match, it was quite a low strike rate as Rohit Sharma tried to pressurize both batters with spinners. After he saw that the scoring rate was dragged down, he then introduced fast ballers and attacks, and they provided breakthroughs to the team as was required and planned by them. But if we see this from Pakistan perspective, when Babar and Rizwan were on the crease, their scoring rate was low courtesy of brilliant captaincy and bowling by Rohit and the Indian team, and after losing the wicket of Babar Azam, Pakistani players looked struck on the crease and were not even able to rotate strikes.

Muhammad Rizwan, who is a senior player in this side, was expected to absorb pressure and handle it, though a buzzy situation was seen under pressure, which did not help the young boys in the side and resulted in wicket losses one after another.

Batters looked very dull at the crease for not even trying something new to decrease pressure, which today's batters do quite often in pressure situations.

There was not much expected from Pakistan’s lower order, and as was the result,

India’s batters are enjoying the form of their lives at the moment, and Pakistani bowlers have not been in form for quite some time. India took full advantage of this point and came with a positive intent on the field to finish the game as soon as possible. In the process, they lose Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli, as they did score big, but responsibility was taken by Rohit Sharma, and the game was finished by Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul.

There is nothing much to say about Pakistan bowling, as 191 is not the score that bowlers would have preferred to play with.

Moving towards their next contest against Australia, Pakistan has to fix issues, especially with its middle order and spinners. Middle-order batters need to build confidence to play in any pressurized situations, and spinners need to work on how to consistently ball to good lengths to help the captain in the middle phase of the game.

Pakistan’s next game against Australia is very crucial for Pakistan to qualify for the semi-finals. Pakistani lads should show positive intent on the field, no matter what the situation is. It helps create confidence in the team and as a whole, and it also creates a positive vibe in the dressing room, which is very essential for the players.

Pakistan cricket team is known for its unpredictability, and on the day could be a very lethal team to deal with, so men in green should not lose morale after this loss but should gear up for their next matches and should make a comeback to show their hard work and talent.

Fans should not mock players after the defeat against India, as no one walks on the pitch with the intention of losing. So fans should back the boys, no matter what the result may be.

Pakistan's Squad:

Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafiq, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Muhammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Muhammad Wasim Jr., Hasan Ali, Saud Shakeel, Salman Agha and Usama Mir.

Reserve:
Mohammad Haris, Abrar Ahmed and Zaman Khan