India vs Pakistan – the match, the madness, the mayhem is not for the weak-hearted! If one thing that was certain about the Sunday showdown in New York – an absolute uncertainty. It was thriller with capital T and in the end, India maintained the World Cup dominance over their arch-rivals. Jasprit Bumrah showed the world that a skilled player can turn the game at any point – even if the opponents have 90% chance of winning. Though William Shakespeare once said that ‘all’s well that ends well,’ there were several nerve-wracking moments that shocked Indians fans and many cricket legends.
The sheer collapse of India’s celebrated batting lineup tops the charts for the most shocking moment in the Sunday match. At one point, India were 89/3 in 11 overs. But suddenly, Men in Blue lost 7 wickets and added just 30 runs to the total. India were restricted to meagre 119 all out by Babar Azam & co. This was the lowest T20 World Cup total for India ever in the history of tournament. Virat Kohli, who opened with Rohit Sharma, fell cheaply for just 4 runs. This was the first time that Kohli had a single-digit score against Pakistan in T20 World Cup.
Chips were down, all Team India fans were silent and there was a green wave at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium. In reply, Babar Azam and Md Rizwan gave a solid start to Pakistan and it seemed that it was 2021 all over again. Rohit Sharma brought in Jasprit Bumrah who gave the breakthrough wicket of Babar Azam. Pakistan lost two more wickets but then the Men in Green stablised for a while. Pakistan needed 40 runs in 36 balls. At that time, they had seven wickets in hand. Match was totally in favour of Pakistan.
This is the moment when Bumrah dismissed Md Rizwan, who was batting at 31, that changed the game. As India skipper Rohit Sharma said in the after-match presentation, “after the 1st half of the 2nd innings, we were in a huddle and I told boys that if our batting can collapse, then they can too.” From this point onwards, India returned in the game. In the end, Arshdeep Singh was given the last over and he needed to defend 18 runs. He took a wicket of Imad Wasim and kept the pressure on Pakistan.
The last over thriller saw Pakistan needing 12 runs off two balls. This could have been a different story but the second ball ended in a boundary and India won the match by 6 runs. For a stunning bowling figure of 4-0-14-3, Bumrah was declared ‘Player of the match.’ Apart from Bumrah, Hardik Pandya claimed two wickets. Axar Patel was also impressive as he took the wicket of Usman Khan on the very first delivery of his over. This is the lowest T20 World total that India successfully defended on the back of stunning work by the bowlers.