A different Pakistan with the same outcome

The crowd at Eden Gardens, Kolkata was vociferous and started to party when an unknown Salim Malik walked out to bat against India during the second ODI in 1987. Pakistan had lost the cream of their batting lineup while chasing an impossible 239 runs in 40 overs back in those days and with just eight overs remaining, Pakistan needed 78 runs for victory which was impossible to a young Malik whose only contribution in ODIs was 72 against Sri Lanka a few years ago.

The World Champions — India seemed to have tamed Pakistan and a victory was just a matter of time.

All of a sudden, Malik’s bat started to treat Kapil Dev, Madan Lal, Maninder Singh, and Ravi Shastri like school kids and smashed a 72 off just 35 deliveries. The Eden Gardens was stunned to silence and the young Pakistan of Imran Khan conveyed the message to the world — no matter what — they strongly believe Pakistan can beat India and punch above their weight.

The Pakistani domination over India continued for a while and back then, it was India who used to lose against the arch-rivals mentally and tactically — but over time, India worked harder to get out of the vicious circle of defeats and developed a system that would produce players that would not only dominate world cricket but steamroll Pakistan regularly.

These days, Pakistan loses matches against India even before taking the field — psychologically, Pakistan just can’t believe that they can beat India and in the ICC Cricket World Cups — the defeats are making Pakistan a laughing stock all over the world.

Pakistan is an unpredictable side and you never know which Pakistan would appear on a given day — a different Pakistan appeared at Ahmedabad after the heroics at Hyderabad but the outcome was the same — defeat number eight against India in a Cricket World Cup match.

In the ultra-hyped match of the World Cup — Pakistan was put into bat by the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq looked determined to weather the storm and after they went back to the hut — two of Pakistan’s most dependable players — Babar Azam and last match hero — Mohammad Rizwan silenced the big crowd at Ahmedabad with a steady partnership.

Both of them played through the line and found the gaps well to give Pakistan hope for a challenging total.

Babar scored his first-ever ODI half-century against India and then, played a cross-seamed delivery from Mohammed Siraj with an angled bat rather than the full face — the seam hit the pitch and came up in an angled manner to Babar, who executed a poor shot with n angled bat which was surprising from a batsman like Babar.

Then Kuldeep Yadav reduced his pace and produced a delivery that did not spin against which Saud Shakeel went back to a good length ball and it skids through to rap him on the pads — another poor batting display due to lack of application.

 With two quick wickets lost, Sharma brought on Jasprit Bumrah and produced an off-cutter against which Rizwan anticipated so early that he had to depart and open the floodgates for one of the worst collapses in the history of Cricket World Cup — Pakistan lost eight wickets for 36 runs whereas, at one point, Pakistan were well poised for posting around 280 o 300 runs on this tricky wicket.

The psychological advantage that was achieved against Sri Lankan the other night has been dented after today’s match and after three matches, the Pakistani bowlers are consistently proving that they are over-hyped and lack the killer instinct — pace is the rhythmic factor but without control and wicket-taking intent, it is a waste.

On and off the field — Pakistan is only clapping the successes of the arch-rivals.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar