Ahmedabad (Gujarat): Rohit Sharma, his band of bowlers, and all of the 1,00,000 plus men in blue cheering their team, gave the word "superlative" a new meaning at Motera on a happening Saturday night.
It was as much about India posting a seven-wicket win over a struggling Pakistan team as it was about a lot of other toppings: The Rohit Sharma show of 86 runs decked with six boundaries and an equal number of sixes. The Kuldeep Yadav double delight trigger to wicket-taking by Jasprit Bumrah, who clocked the celestial figures of two wickets giving away just 19 runs in seven overs; the Mohammed Siraj-Rohit Sharma set-up for Abdullah Shafique and, of course, the wickets chipped in by Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya to pack off Babar Azam’s men for just 199 with 12.5 overs to spare.
But such was the dazzling effect of Rohit Sharma’s class act with the bat under the lights, that the young Shreyas Iyer’s first 50 in a World Cup went unnoticed. It was a comprehensive, solid, and sound victory by India cruising from a 7-0 tally against Pakistan in the previous World Cup to an 8-0 and mounting in this edition.
Rohit Sharma’s aerial lifts looked as effortless as they were deceptively powerful and all six of them were his signature shots pulled out of his matchless repertoire when he gets going. He ticked all boxes, as promised to himself and his team, of being successful as a batter and a captain leading from the front, plotting the fall of Pakistani batters with mid-wicket chats with his bowlers and generally keeping cool when Babar Azam's men had risen to 155-2.
Once Rohit Sharma won the toss, elected to bowl, and announced that the young Shubman Gill was back, the roar in the stands, packed 90 percent, set the mood for a match that was for the collective heartbeats of both the nations across the border.
Indeed, the event was the biggest adrenaline pusher of this World Cup so far and was held in the biggest stadium in the world. It is a fact that sub-continental teams feed on fan support which becomes as crucial as a toss, maybe.
So, when Pakistan Team Director Micky Arthur said, the no-Pak fans factor does matter, there was some truth in that. "It did not look like an ICC event. It looked more like a bilateral series organized by the BCCI,” he said. Indeed, there were just six Pakistani fans, who could make it to Motera from US shores and they got drowned in the tidal waves of Indian fans in the stands. Having said that, he said, going ahead “we will be analyzing, introspecting and having conversations about our work ahead. Two out of three victories is not too bad,” he added.
However, earlier in the innings Babar Azam and his men silenced the roaring crowds by lending a Test match pace to the ODI and opting for caution over valour for the most part of the match. But once, Kuldeep Yadav struck with a golden double in his return spell, Jasprit Bumrah followed it up with his own strike operation of two quick wickets even as Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya kept at it to add to the scalps.
Mohammed Siraj who cleaned out Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam to a low beauty that upset the Pak skipper’s furniture, sneaking in from under his raised bat, broke a building partnership. He was exceptional and hungry to make a mark on his first World Cup and he did so with passion and strategy drawn out with his skipper.
"When their (Babar Azam-Mohammed Rizwan) partnership was going well, I was called for bowling, I had a plan to take a wicket here. My only aim was to take a wicket there and I got that wicket. After that, they collapsed,” Siraj said at the post-match presser.
As for Babar Azam's wicket, Siraj said: "I would like to say one thing, the ball didn't come low, because the ball was pitched in front and he tried to play it behind [square] that's why he was late. Otherwise, the ball was executed just as I thought, the ball was, nothing happened, the ball in front played behind [behind], that's it, and the ball skidded a little, nothing else," he said.
"Abdullah Shafique’s wicket was a plan because I had spoken to Rohit Bhai - I had bowled a bouncer to him before but he got stuck in the middle. Then I talked to Rohit for a while and spent some time there. He thought I was going to bowl bouncer again. He was on backfoot and I pitched the ball up and got a good success. Cordoning Pakistan for just 191 runs on a flat wicket is no mean achievement but the psychedelic show of shots by captain Rohit Sharma outshone whatever else that happened in the middle tonight,” Siraj explained.
On the Indian side, it was what you could call a sorted affair, a thumping reiteration of them not being just paper tigers of the game that their nation worships and they serenade with passion and pride. Earlier in the day, their bowlers did get late in calling for the party, but they did so after putting the Pakistani batters in a tight line of control and then going for the strike, finishing the opposition at just 191.
A Pakistani victory here would have been awe-inspiring simply because it was next to impossible. Not just because it was Gujarat and an Indian full house, but because down the decades, the highly talented Pakistani bowlers and batters have been done in by administrative and situations implosions even as India and its Board have taken strides into the global hall of fame, displaying a wholesomeness both in the middle and on the bench.
So summarily outclassed the Pakistani team by Team India that its analysts should treat this match as a lesson to learn from and not as a castigation to turn from. First dismissed in 42.5 overs on a flat wicket and then slapped a 7-wicket loss with 20.3 overs to spare. Team India can only be feted for making it soundly one-sided.
The quick and casual annihilation of the opposition here showed the perseverance and polish that the Indian bowlers and batters have together added to their arsenal of superstar status. How far they go into their 2023 campaign can be left to drawing-room conversations for now. What needs to be done tonight is applaud the moment of such psychedelic achievement.
Yes, it was a heartbreak that Rohit Sharma lost his century by 14 runs despite a super solid show when Shaheen Afridi got him at 86 in 63 balls and when India needed just 36 runs for victory in the 28th over. But it was a legend’s walk back from the greens of Motera as the stands applauded his effort without regret or reproach.
An incredible innings decked up with six fours and an equal number of sixes is already being noted down by cricket chroniclers for folklore scripts. Finding a match to him? Well, it’s going to take time, like with Sachin Tendulkar’s celestial achievements. For a swan song, this was a good copy for the skipper. For supporters, let’s talk the 2011 and his exclusion for a home Cup. But let’s not dismiss the quiet 50 not out Shreyas Iyer recorded when all the fireworks and the limelight was on his skipper.
