World Cup: Indian bowlers wreak havoc as Pakistan bowled out for just 191

Indian bowlers dished out a clinical performance as they bowled out Pakistan for just 191 in 42.5 overs. Pakistan suffered a middle and lower-middle-order collapse as Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets each. Reports Meenakshi Rao.

Ahmedabad (Gujarat): Indian bowlers called for a party in the middle very late into the match and when the crowd, who had come to bring the roof down had been veritably quietened by the Pakistani batters for a better part of the match. The late Indian fire brought down the Pakistani innings at 191 with 7.5 overs to go.

Earlier in the innings, the Pakistani batters lent caution, stability, and a Test match pace to the ODIs for survival in this high-tension match. As it turned out, the only thing flat this Saturday afternoon was the wicket, which negated the early striking brilliance of even a Jasprit Bumrah. This was the first time in this tournament that Bumrah returned wicketless in his first spell.

Finally, it was Kuldeep Yadav, who fired up his mates with a double wicket - it was the 33rd over. Once Mr Motion arrived in the Indian camp, Pakistan’s snail-like innings wrapped up much before schedule. The delightful figures that the Indian bowlers clocked, will be fodder for many reports the day after. Jasprit Bumrah bowled seven with one maiden, 19 runs and took two late wickets. Mohammed Siraj 8-0-50-2, Hardik Pandya: 6-0-34-4, Kuldeep Yadav 10-0-35-2, Ravindra Jadeja: 9.5-0-38- 3 and Shardul Thakur 2-0-12-0.

However, the first two overs signalled that the bowlers would have to rework their lengths and bowl wicket to wicket, keeping it simple. Siraj, from the other end, felt the heat a tad more. He set the ball rolling to the boundary, three in a row, setting up the mood for a run fest. That’s when his skipper Rohit Sharma had a brief chat with him which did wonders. The next one from him was a wicket-taking beauty. The much-needed breakthrough came in the eighth over when Siraj trapped Abdullah Shafique on a cross-seam low-lying delivery. Abdullah, who was emerging as a dangerman cross-batted and took the rap to walk at 20.

Rohit Sharma kept rotating the bowling, not letting his bowlers succumb to any possible onslaught. Hardik was brought in when Bumrah started getting ineffective and Kuldeep Yadav was brought from the other end to give variety to attack. Hardik too went for a couple of boundaries and Babar Azam seemed to be in no hurry to rocket-fuel his bat.

It was in the 12.3 over when Pandya could finally force an edge from Imam-ul-Haq, ably taken by KL Rahul on full stretch. His 36 runs in 48 balls had to be stymied and the break-in came at the right time for India. Pandya displayed his wicket-taking abilities when pace and carry started getting sluggish on a non-performing wicket.

This brought in the centurion from Hyderabad and the man who wrecked Sri Lanka’s fortunes - Mohammed Rizwan, as also Ravindra Jadeja. In his second ball, Rizwan swept and was given out, but the batter reviewed and won the referral as technology showed the ball had missed the stump. The din in the stands quietened before drinks came in when Pakistan had just started stabilizing at 75-2.

Pakistan’s 50 came in the 11th over and 100 in the 19th when Babar Azam had reached 29 unnoticed and Rizwan was on 14. This triggered an unnerving quietude in the stands after such a song and dance start to the proceedings with Sunidhi Chauhan and Arijit Singh rocking the stadium with their captivating medleys.

The stands, some of which had been left bald due to the half-hour cordon to give a green corridor to the players to reach the stadium, started filling up, all set for the Indian batting under the lights. In the middle, meanwhile, Pakistan batters continued to toil, navigating Kuldeep, Shardul, and Jadeja with safe play, singles, and a boundary whenever it could be sneaked in.

The watchful semblance that the otherwise mercurial Pakistani batters gave to this one, not only gave them confidence to accelerate runs at their convenience but also built their campaign, frustrating the Indian arm department. Respect and patience gave way to disdain and aggression only when it seemed possible. Kuldeep was reverse batted, Jadeja was hit to the ropes more than a couple of times and Shardul’s comeback was delayed after his first over.

The Pakistani skipper, meanwhile, nibbled at the bowling with slow relish. At 34, Kuldeep tempted him to sweep and the dreaded pad rap was engineered. The umpire was unmoved to a big appeal by India. However, the review felt flat by a slim margin.

The partnership was building up too, at 55 at this juncture and 24 overs to go. India needed to pull out a rabbit and revive the atmosphere in the deadpan stands as well as their fortunes under the lights. Kuldeep was in his fifth over by now and Rohit was running out of options, the one-day developing vibes of Test match pace.

Babar Azam came to form when he made his 50 in 58 balls and seven boundaries. Pakistan too climbed to a better-looking 150 in 29.4 overs. Was he waiting for India to recall his batting polish? Apparently!

Just when the chirp about the Siraj card not working gathered momentum, he struck again and clean bowled Babar Azam with sheer pace of a ball that kept low and angled in. It sneaked past his raised batch to bring up the movement in the stands and hope that the match would gain some cash and carry from here on.

Action returned to the middle in the 32.2 over when Kuldeep wrapped Saud Shakeel just above the knee and insisted with sound and fury that he be given out. A referral this time worked and Saud walked at six runs in 10 balls bringing Pakistan to 162-4.

This was the shot in the arm Kuldeep was waiting to strike with. It turned out to be his golden double wicket over when four balls later he clean-bowled Iftikhar Ahmad, bringing Pakistan to 156-5 in 32.6 overs. Sweeping a wrong ‘un was unmindful but the delight in the stands showed how badly it was needed.

The Kuldeep action ignited Bumrah from the other end who cleaned up Rizwan (49 runs, seven boundaries in 69 balls) with a slow in-cutter which drew red from the furniture. Bumrah celebrated with a high jump and a thump. He, too, had finally delivered, and how! Pakistan now were 166-6 in 34 overs.

This was the time for magic, the Bumrah signature tune. It seemed he had rung in the death overs early. He struck again, this time packing off a bewildered Shadab Khan, who missed the line losing his off-stump. And we thought India was singular in the perceived weakness of the middle.

The next to join the party was Pandya, who got his man in the 40th over when Bumrah caught Shadab Khan when he was four in 14 balls. The nine pins syndrome had by now struck the Pakistanis and Hasan Ali decided to court wantonness and scooped Jadeja into the waiting hands of Shubman Gill at a personal 12.

The Pakistan innings was fast breathing its last at 187-9 with Pakistan’s king of birds Shaheen Afridi and a benign Haris Rauf started keeping time. It was a referral sought by India after a pushy appeal by Jadeja that wrapped up the Pakistani innings at 191 when Rauf walked at two runs in 12 balls. Over to Afridi and Pakistan’s pace devils, who have a history of keeping Pakistan’s fortunes even on difficult wickets like this one in Motera.