By Prasanta Kumar Tripathy
While we are in the middle of the group stages of the ongoing T-20 World Cup Cricket, the points table has become very interesting. There have been a few upsets and some of the strong contenders for the title are facing elimination. The biggest upset in the tournament has been Pakistan’s loss to the USA.
Apart from that, New Zealand’s loss to Afghanistan is another big upset. Now both New Zealand and Pakistan are on the verge of elimination except for some permutations and combinations.
However, the most important match, between India and Pakistan at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York was a cracker of a game. As expected, India defeated their arch-rival in a low-scoring game. There has been widespread criticism in the international media about the below-par performance of the Pakistani team. After their loss against the USA, the defeat against India is kind of rubbing salt to their wounds. However, Pakistan didn’t play so badly. Rather it was a superb team effort by Team India led by an astute leader.
If we do a review of the match, Pakistan won a good toss and put India in under overcast conditions with. And the four fearsome fast bowlers of Pakistan proved Babar Azam right with their lethal fast bowling. Honestly, this fast bowling attack of Pakistan consisting of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, and Mohammad Amir reminds me of the deadly four fast bowlers of West Indies in the 80s i.e. Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, and Joel Garner.
But, the Indian approach while batting was contrary to what Rohit Sharma said in the pre-match press conference. Rohit had emphatically said that the drop-in pitch at Nassau County, with double pace, does not assist stroke play and it is not easy to hit 4s and 6s. Moreover, the sandy outfield is not fast enough. So, the approach should be to place the balls in the gaps and take singles and doubles. However, what we saw in the ground is that many of our batsmen got out while trying to hit the ball out of the ground.
Due to Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel, we reached a total that was somehow ok if not outrightly defendable. From 81 for 3 in 10 overs to getting bundled out for 119 was a dismal score considering our strong batting lineup. I have all along been saying that instead of Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal should open with Rohit and Virat should bat at no 3. We should not expose both of our star players in the first over itself. Moreover, Virat coming in at no 3 is better if we lose an early wicket so that he can rotate the strike and accelerate the rate. Pitches here are not like the sleeping beauties as we get in IPL.
Secondly, a left-right combination at the top is a potent force against the opposition bowlers. In addition, we know what kind of a player Jaiswal is. He is an explosive batsman who can release the pressure from Rohit and facilitate him to play the role of sheet anchor. On the other hand, do we really need a seventh bowler? If not, then why do we need Shivam Dube? Hence India should bring in Jaiswal in place of Dube and make him open with Rohit.
When we move to spinner-friendly wickets in the West Indies, we have to rest either Arshdeep Singh or Mohammed Siraj and bring in Kuldeep Yadav. If Ravindra Jadeja keeps on failing, we should play both KulCha (spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav) keeping in view the ground and the opponents.
Coming back to Pakistan’s batting, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan started on a positive note but Jasprit Bumrah is out of the World. An excellent out-swinger from Bumrah and an outstanding catch by SKY saw the back of Babar. Later on, Rizwan tried to rebuild the innings and was almost successful until another Bumrah magic saw his bails flying. For a moment, Fakhar Zaman kept the Indian fans on their toes but he also perished to some good bowling by Hardhik Pandya.
Imad Wasim was very unimpressive and consumed a lot of balls which resulted in northward movement of the asking rate. The 19th over of Pakistan innings bowled by Bumrah is one of the best in the history of T-20 cricket, in which he gave away only two runs and claimed one wicket. Pant was electrifying with the bat and the gloves. It seems Axar is coming out of the shadows of Jadeja. He was brilliant with bat and ball in the match. However, we are forgetting a major factor that contributed in decimating the Pakistan batting, that is our captain cool -- “The HitMan”. Ro Hit(man) Sharma was superb as a captain. His field placement and bowling changes were flawless. The way he handled the fifth bowling option was simply mind-blowing. Using Axar at that point was a game changer. Changing the end of Pandya and persisting with him despite his pretty ordinary first over reminds one of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MSD).
With two wins from two games, India is almost certain to move to the second round while Pakistan will have to wait for other results. However, without Pakistan in the last eight, the tournament will be like curry without spice. I don’t say that there is no flaw in the Pakistan team. Yes, they do have. Picking Imad Wasim after he left cricket for quite some time didn’t help their cause. Moreover, I don’t see how Azam Khan fits into this team. Shadab Khan, once a quality spinner, has lost his magic. Does he deserve to play as a specialist batsman? It seems cricket in Pakistan has eroded because of the diminishing quality of their domestic cricket. If they really want to reverse the trend, they need to strengthen their domestic cricket, otherwise, Pakistan cricket will follow the path of their hockey.
Now coming to ICC, I would complement ICC for including 20 teams for this WC. Some might have thought that teams like Uganda, PNG, or Namibia don’t help the cause. I completely differ with this school of thought. In order to spread the game beyond the test-playing nations, we must encourage these minnows, and what is better than the T-20 format? Who knows, In the Los Angeles Olympics we may have some formidable teams out of these minnows. See, where Afghanistan is today. Teams like Zimbabwe could not qualify for this tournament but they possess the quality to upset the best in the business. With a little more help and support from the ICC, cricket may revive in Kenya.
We have seen Canada outplay a much stronger team like Ireland that has defeated major test-playing countries in the recent past. So, overall, the role of ICC in spreading cricket across the globe deserves much appreciation. When New York was decided as a venue for the World Cup, I was surprised. However, the authorities proved me wrong. No doubt, the drop-in pitch has a double pace and is not conducive for stroke-making.
But the photo finish of most of the matches has served the purpose. The way the local administration has managed the crowd, parking, communications/transportation, and the facilities needs to be complimented. New York has a sizable population from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. These cricket-loving people from the Sub-Continent origin are filling up the stadium despite the prohibitive cost of the tickets. That has made the event a huge commercial success as well. All in all, it was a good decision by ICC to add the city of Big Apple in the map of World Cricket.
Teams like Uganda, PNG, or Nepal may not be formidable today but there is enough spark and individual talents are visible. If I look back to the match between Uganda and West Indies, although West Indies won the match comfortably, the 18th, 19th, and 20th overs bowled by the Ugandan seamers were terrific. Although Andre Russel smashed several boundaries in the 20th over, I was amazed by the way the Ugandan fast bowlers bowled Yorkers in the death overs. Similarly, Aaron Jones, Saurabh Netravalkar, and Monank Patel of the USA are quite promising. However, in order to promote these raw talents, BCCI should induce the IPL franchises to have at least one player in each team from the associate nations. That will not only polish the raw talents but also induce more youngsters to take cricket seriously. And BCCI as the big brother of World Cricket has to play a role in it.
The Afghanistan team has impressed me the most. This team could be in the last four. They are most suitable for T-20. Their captain Rashid Khan is the World’s best leg spinner today. But the player who has stunned the cricketing World is their fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi. It’s just not a fluke that he is the leading wicket-taker in the T-20 WC 2024. Both Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran are absolutely ruthless in the powerplay and they have veteran all-rounder Mohammed Nabi in the team. So, ignore these Afghans at your own peril.
A lot of my readers have asked me to predict the winner of the ongoing T-20 World Cup. In my opinion, India, Australia, England, and Afghanistan should make the cut for the last four. West Indies being the host country has an edge to upset either Afghanistan or England. So, India, Australia, and any two out of England, West Indies, and Afghanistan will move to the last four. And I would love to see the repeat of ODI WC final 2023 between India and Australia and Rohit lifting the trophy.
The writer is the CEO of the State Bank of India (SBI), New York. (Photo courtesy: Prasanta Kumar Tripathy)
