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A day of no handshakes, and for Pakistan many head shakes. India coasted to victory in what became global cricket’s most lucrative mismatch after a superlative innings from the opener Ishan Kishan skewed it definitively in their favour. In its second half a game that was dramatically off and then on again became one where a parade of Pakistan batters were dramatically in and then out again. Chasing a target of 176 they were seven down before they even got halfway, and were eventually skittled for 114 to lose by 61 runs.
Kishan’s innings was a glorious anomaly, the 27-year-old thriving on a surface that few came to terms with. Only one other player struck more than three fours; Kishan hit 10. Nobody else produced more than a single six; Kishan managed three. In all he hit 77 runs off 40 balls, the extent to which he stood out illustrated by the fact that when he was dismissed he had scored 88.5% of his team’s runs.
Pakistan won the toss and very little else. India’s Suryakumar Yadav said he had been planning to bat first anyway, but for Salman Agha a turning pitch was a gift that he could not wait to unwrap. The Pakistan captain insisted on getting his hands on it before anyone else, bowling himself at the start of the match – the first time in eight matches this year that he has bowled at all – and for a few halcyon moments his team was on top.
That opening over brought only one run and the wicket of Abhishek Sharma, who came into the tournament as the most feared batter in world cricket but in two World Cup appearances has now faced five balls and scored no runs. Perhaps things would have been different had Salman’s luck not flipped in his second over, when Kishan twice miscued the ball into the air: the first time it flew just too far for the fielder at backward point to reach, the second it flew not quite far enough for the man at long-on to catch. Before that, in the first of only two overs of seam India faced, Kishan had chopped a delivery from Shaheen Afridi behind his legs, into the ground and just wide of leg-stump.
Kishan never again relied on good fortune and if there were many handsome shots, notably a brilliant sweep off Abrar Ahmed that pinged the ball deep into the stands, his efforts were made to look all the better by the fact that while he was motoring at nearly two runs a ball, Tilak Varma, at the other end, was barely managing one, as did Yadav after his dismissal.
It was clear from those batters’ travails that India had posted a challenging target and Pakistan’s chances of overhauling it existed only briefly. It would be tempting to note that their response started in the worst possible fashion were it not for the fact that, if anything, it got worse after that.
Hardik Pandya started and finished it, opening proceedings with a wicket maiden, and ending them by ripping out Usman Tariq’s middle stump with the last ball of the 18th over. Jasprit Bumrah bowled the second over of the innings and after he dismissed Saim Ayub with his second ball, a brilliant inswinging yorker, for the second time in the game Salman was required to lead by example. He flubbed his fourth delivery, the last of that Bumrah over, in a slow and miserable arc to Pandya at mid-on. Realistically, for Pakistan to have stood any kind of chance they needed their top four to produce at least one lasting partnership. Those key batters combined scored 15 runs off 17 balls.
Victory confirms the co-hosts’ qualification for the Super Eights with a game to spare and if the extent of the defeat means that, with one game to play, Pakistan sit below USA in the Group A standings on net run-rate. However, they will only surrender a place in the next round if they lose their final match to eliminated, pointless Namibia at the Sinhalese Sports Club on Wednesday.
