NEW YORK: Shocked by the USA and scarred by India, Pakistan have little to play for and everything to lose when they meet Canada in their penultimate group league encounter of the T20 World Cup here on Tuesday.
If the Super Over loss against the co-hosts in their opening Group A match was not enough, Pakistan slumped to a six-run loss at the hands of arch-rivals India in a low-scoring match here on Sunday.
Pakistan’s Super Eight qualification chance now hinges on winning big against Canada and Ireland, besides hoping that the Americans lose big to India and Ireland.
Even in that scenario, both the teams will end on four points each and it will boil down to which team has a better net run rate. Hence Pakistan can only pray for divine intervention in the best case scenario.
USA after two wins enjoys a healthy run rate of +0.626 and just a victory against Ireland would suffice while Pakistan with a dismal NRR of -0.150 would not only need to win but also by comprehensive margins.
In the two matches so far, the 2009 champions never really looked like the formidable side it was once known to be.
There seems to be no clarity in Babar Azam’s leadership. The two factions in the team — one led by the skipper with his close friends Mohammed Rizwan and Shadab Khan while other including, the recently sacked Shaheen Shah Afridi is also making matters worse.
Not a single department clicked for Pakistan in the two matches so far and they will need a more cohesive effort in the remaining matches to give themselves an outside chance.
While Babar and Shahdab Khan scored 40 odd runs against the USA to post 159 for 7, Pakistan failed to defend the target, losing the match in Super Over.
And then while chasing an underwhelming 120-run target, none of the Pakistani batters could up the ante as they consumed 59 dot balls to be restricted 113 for 7.
Pakistan’s major concern going forward is the underwhelming performance of their batters as the likes of Fakhar Zaman, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed played loose shots to make life difficult for them against India.
While Mohammed Rizwan took 44 balls to score his 31 runs, Wasim consumed 23 balls for his 15.
The only bright spot for Pakistan on Sunday was the performance of their bowlers with Naseem Shah (3/21) and Mohammad Amir (2/23) leading from the front.
But premier fast bowler Shaheen needs to take more responsibility upfront in the remaining two games to give Pakistan an outside chance. He has hardly been able to get swing in conducive conditions.
Going forward Pakistan will have to do some soul searching if they want to revive their faltering campaign.
Canada, on the other hand, are placed third in Group A with one win out of two games.
After the seven-wicket loss to the USA, Canada bounced back in style to beat Ireland by 12 runs in their next match.
In Navneet Dhaliwal, Canada have a veteran top-order batter who was a part of that 2019 victory over Ireland, and a lot will be riding on him.
Canada will also take heart from the defeat against the USA because they had posted an imposing 194, albeit in a losing cause.
Teams (from):
Canada: Saad Bin Zafar (captain), Aaron Johnson, Ravinderpal Singh, Navneet Dhaliwal, Kaleem Sana, Dilon Heyliger, Jeremy Gordon, Nikhil Dutta, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Rayyankhan Pathan, Junaid Siddiqui, Dilpreet Bajwa, Shreyas Movva and Rishiv Joshi.
Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan
Six Run Defeat
Indian bowlers, led by an outstanding Jasprit Bumrah, were collectively brilliant, firing their team to a thrilling six-run win over Pakistan in a low-scoring T20 World Cup match here on Sunday.
Bumrah (3/14) and Hardik Pandya (2/24) gave nothing away while defending a paltry 120, and India restricted Pakistan to 113 for seven.
Earlier, pacers Naseem Shah and Mohammad Amir produced wonderful spells as Pakistan bowled out India to 119 after a couple of rain interruptions.
Shah (3/21) and Amir (2/23) exploited a slightly two-paced pitch to apply break on India’s batters, except Rishabh Pant (42, 31b, 6×4), who played a few breathtaking shots.
Brief scores: India: 119 all out in 19 overs (Rishabh Pant 42, Axar Patel 20; Naseem Shah 3/21, Mohammad Amir 2/23, Haris Rauf 3/21) beat Pakistan: 113/7 in 20 overs
(Mohammad Rizwan 31; Hardik Pandya 2/24, Jasprit Bumrah 3/14) by six runs.
Match Details
The latest chapter of the “greatest rivalry” wasn’t high on quality but still provided edge-of-the-seat action as a gritty India, guided by the redoubtable Jasprit Bumrah, went past an imploding Pakistan by six runs in a low-scoring T20 World Cup contest here on Sunday.
The Rohit Sharma-led side suffered a mid-innings collapse on a two-paced track to be all out for an underwhelming 119 in 19 overs despite a gutsy effort from Rishabh Pant (42 off 31 balls) after being put in to bat under overcast conditions.
Pakistan, who can oscillate between the sublime and ridiculous, seemed to have the game in the bag needing 48 runs off as many balls with eight wickets in hand.
However, the pace combination of the ever-effective Bumrah (3/14) and Hardik Pandya (2/24) brought India back from the dead with incisive spells that saw Pakistan lose wickets in a heap to end at 113 for seven in 20 overs.
The equation came down to 18 off the last six balls and Arshdeep Singh held his nerve to defend it and ensure another famous win for India over Pakistan on the world stage.
While Hardik used the short ball well, Bumrah got rid of a well-set Rizwan in the 15th over before dismissing Iftikhar Ahmed in the 19th over that went for just three runs.
Having said that, India made plenty of errors in the game including the dropped catches of Rizwan (31 off 34) and Babar Azam (13 off 10) early in the Pakistan chase.
It was India’s second win in as many games while Pakistan succumbed to another loss after a shock defeat against the USA in their opener.
Earlier, India’s new number three Pant rode his luck en route a chancy knock but other batters in the star-studded line-up could not apply themselves on a challenging surface.
Pakistan dismissed India with an over to spare courtesy an all-round bowling effort with Naseem Shah (3/21) and Mohammed Amir (2/23) being the most impressive.
India lost seven wickets for just 28 runs after being 89 for three in the 12th over.
Intermittent rain delayed the toss and subsequently the start of the game by 50 minutes. Under overcast skies, Babar expectedly put the opposition India into bat.
After the opening over from Shaheen Afridi, in which Rohit played a sublime pick-up shot for six over deep square leg, the rain returned to halt the game gain by roughly 30 minutes.
Virat Kohli (4 off 3), who has an exemplary record against Pakistan, hit a glorious cover drive off Naseem Shah on the first ball of his innings the resumption before getting caught at point off a wide and short ball two balls later.
Pakistan had India under the pump when Rohit (13 off 12) departed in the following over by Afridi. The India captain went for another pickup shot but this time mistimed it to be holed out at deep square leg.
The drop-in pitch, which made headlines for the wrong reasons prior to the game, had enough for pacers as well as the spinners but there was not as much uneven bounce as seen in the previous games.
With India feeling the heat at 19 for two, they decided to promote Axar Patel (20 off 18) to number four to shield Suryakumar Yadav, a surprising move considering India bat deep.
However, to Axar’s credit, the southpaw did play some bold strokes, including a six over third man off Afridi, in his brief stay.
New number three Pant and Axar shared a 39-run standoff 30 balls to ensure the runs kept coming after the loss of openers.
Pant, who got two streaky fours off Mohammad Amir at the start of his innings, rode his luck to a play-pivotal knock.
The gutsy left-hander was also dropped on eight before he gained the confidence to come up with a series of fearless fours. Three of them came in the opening over from Haris Rauf before he unleashed the reverse slap off-spinner Imad Wasim.
A 31-run stand with Suryakumar Yadav (7 off 8) took India to a promising 81 for three in the 10 overs.
However, Pakistan fought back between overs 11-15 with as many as four wickets while conceding only 15 runs to leave India struggling at 96 for seven.
Dube’s was a rather soft dismissal as he hit one straight back to Shah while Suryakumar tried to dispatch Rauf through the line but was caught at mid-off.
Seeing the wickets fall at the other end, Pant did not hold back and went for a straight aerial drive to give Amir his first wicket.
He got rid of Ravindra Jadeja the next ball through a regulation catch at cover.
Hardik (7 off 12) had to bat around the tail but he did not last long.
Bumran’s Performance
Jasprit Bumrah’s effort touched by genius confined arch-rivals Pakistan to a defeat here on Sunday, but India skipper Rohit Sharma wanted his lethal weapon to perform at the same level for the entire duration of the T20 World Cup.
Bumrah was magnificent in India’s six-run victory over Pakistan in which he had figures of 3/14 in four overs which included an astounding 15 dot balls while defending a paltry total of 119.
“He is going from strength to strength (Bumrah). We all know what he can do. Not going to talk too much about him.
“We want him to be in that mindset throughout the World Cup. He is a genius, we all know that” Rohit couldn’t stop praising one of India’s greatest fast bowlers.
Rohit said India had the belief that they would win the match because the pitch was not that conducive for batting.
“With a bowling line-up like that, you feel confident to do the job. Halfway through the stage when they were batting, we got everyone together and said that if it can happen to us, it can happen to them.”
The skipper, however, did admit that they should have batted better after being 89 for 3 at one stage.
“We didn’t bat well enough. Halfway through our innings, we were in a good position. We didn’t put enough partnership there and fell short with the bat,” Rohit said about losing 7 wickets for 28 runs.
“We spoke about every run matter on a pitch like that. There was enough on the pitch. It was a good wicket to be honest, compared to the last game.”
“Little contribution from everyone can make a huge difference.”
Bumrah, who has now won back-to-back man of the match awards, felt that pitch was slightly easier for batting in the second half as the sun came out.
But he said the entire bowling unit was very disciplined in its effort.
“It feels really good. We felt we were a little under and the wicket got a little better after the sun came out. We were really disciplined so it feels good.”
Since it was a two-paced wicket, the idea was to hit the seam and get some lateral movement, offered Bumrah.
“Tried to hit the seam as much as I could, tried to be as clear as I could with my execution and it all came out well so I felt happy,” he said.
Both Rohit and Bumrah acknowledged the vociferous support that they received at the Nassau Cricket County Ground.
“Felt like we were playing in India, really happy with the support and that gives us energy on the field. We focus on the now.
“We’ve played two games and played really well. You stick to your processes and look to play well.”
Dot Balls
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam felt that the 59 dot balls conceded during their chase became the turning point.
“We bowled well. In the batting, we lost back-to-back wickets and consumed too many dot balls. Again, we weren’t up to the mark in the first six,” he said.
Asked about the strategy, Babar said it was about playing normal cricket.
“Tactics were simple to play normally. Just strike rotation and the odd boundary. But in that period, we had too many dot balls. Can’t expect much from tail-enders.”
Babar had a contrarian view on the surface unlike many who felt the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat.
“Pitch looked decent. The ball was coming on nicely. It was a little bit slow, and some balls had extra bounce.”
Pakistan will have to win against Canada and Ireland by big margins and hope that the USA doesn’t beat one among Ireland or India to enter the Super Eight.
“Have to win the last two matches. Will sit and discuss our mistakes but looking forward to the last two matches.”
Balls Wasted
In Karachi, former skipper Salim Malik has accused Imad Wasim of deliberately wasting balls in Pakistan’s six-run loss against arch-rivals India in the T20 World Cup in New York.
Chasing an underwhelming 120-run target, Pakistani batters consumed 59 dot balls to be restricted to 113 for 7 in New York on Sunday.
Wasim took 23 balls to score his 15 runs in the losing cause.
“You look at his (Wasim) innings and it appears as if he was wasting balls not scoring runs and making things difficult in the run-chase,” Malik said on 24 News channel.
Another former captain Shahid Afridi feels all is not well in the Pakistan dressing room and some players have issues with skipper Babar Azam.
“A captain brings everyone together, either he spoils the team environment or he builds the team. Let this World Cup finish, and I will speak openly,” said Afridi.
“I have such a relationship with Shaheen (Afridi) that if I talk about him, people will say I am favouring my son-in-law,” he added.
Afridi’s daughter is married to left-arm pacer Shaheen, who was removed as T20 captain just before the World Cup after just one series in New Zealand.
After back-to-back defeats against minnows USA and India, Pakistan’s Super Eight chances now rests on winning big against Canada and Ireland, besides hoping that the Americans lose to India and Ireland.
Even in that scenario both the teams will end on four points each and it will come down to the net run rate.
Gary Kirsten Speaks
Perplexed by Pakistan’s sudden disintegration in the T20 World Cup match against India here, the team’s recently-appointed head coach Gary Kirsten said his batters “lost the plot” after 15 overs and are under pressure after failing to perform at their best.
Pakistan are on the verge of being eliminated from the tournament after consecutive losses to debutants USA and arch-foes India. The loss to Rohit Sharma’s on Sunday was a classic case of implosion with the side going from 80/4 in the 15th over to ending at 113/7 while chasing a modest 120.
Kirsten emphasised the significance of strike rotation, particularly on challenging surfaces like the one here. He said his team failed to follow the strategy.
“I think certainly on a pitch like that, it is really, really important to be able to rotate the strike. So, I agree with you that sometimes it’s fun to watch a game like this where it’s not only about hitting boundaries,” Kirsten said in the post-match press conference.
“But you also have to be able to use 120 balls really well. As I said, we did for 15 overs and then we lost the plot…we’re losing too many wickets.
“As a batting unit, you can’t lose as many wickets as we are losing. Players have got to take responsibility when that opportunity comes,” he added.
Pakistan were guilty of consuming 59 dot balls during the chase. Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah did the most damage with figures of 3/14 in his four overs.
The side’s next game will be at the same venue against Canada on Tuesday. It will be a virtual do-or-die encounter for the runners-up of the last edition.
“These guys are all international players and they’re aware that when they’re not performing at their best that there’s going to be pressure put on them. That’s understandable,” Kirsten, who has coached the 2011 ODI World Cup-winning Indian team, said.
“…but a lot of these guys have played a lot of T20 cricket around the world over many, many years and it’s really up to them to decide how they’re going to take their games forward,” the South African stated.
Asked if the team lacks the ability to handle pressure, Kirsten stressed upon the importance of continual growth and adaptation in the fast-paced world of international cricket.
“I’m having a look into the environment and looking at what the issues are. I look at these players, I’ve watched them play many, many years on TV and kind of getting to know them, they’re fantastic guys,” Kirsten, who was appointed just a few weeks before the World Cup, said.
“I mean, there’s a lot of very disappointed guys in the change room now. I think for me the most important thing for every international player is that you continue growing…,” he explained.
“The game is changing pretty much every year. So, if you’re not up to it and you’re not improving, you’re going to get found out somewhere.”
On what exactly was the team’s strategy while chasing, Kirsten said the focus was on capitalising on loose deliveries and rotating the strike. However, he expressed disappointment over the team’s loss of momentum during the crucial phase of the innings.
“…I thought we did that brilliantly for 15 overs. We kept it at a run a ball, and then we lost wickets and then we stopped scoring ones and then we were looking for boundaries and once you’ve got to that point, it was always going to be hard.
“So, the message was to do what we executed on for 15 overs,” the coach said.
Amid the disappointment of defeat, Kirsten found solace in the team’s bowling performance, especially in the death overs.
“(It) got better and better and we’ve tracked their stats over the last 15 odd games, and they’ve been an incredible bowling unit from overs 10 to 20. I think our record between overs 10 to 20 as a bowling unit is up there with the best,” he said.
“We’ve got four fantastic seamers and Imad Wasim I thought bowled really well today as well. So, we’ve got some nice options on the ball with the team and I think we’re going to be a difficult team to bat against if we bowl like that,” he added.
Kirsten diverged from the criticism aimed at the drop-in pitches of the Nassau stadium, refraining from joining the bandwagon of discontent.
Despite witnessing a series of low-scoring matches, he remained diplomatic about Sunday’s wicket and the chatter surrounding its uneven bounce, which has been dubbed dangerous in several quarters.
“I think it wasn’t dangerous, I mean the odd one rose up, but not many. Generally, it kept a little bit lower, it was difficult to score from both batting sides and also a fairly slow outfield so it was never going to be a big total,” said Kirsten.
“I would have said 140 would have been a really good score on that pitch, so India didn’t get that and so I thought we had the game,” added the South African.
