ICC World Cup 2015: Pakistan vs India Post Match Thoughts
Another
World Cup. Another match against India. Another loss. A 5-0 record that had
been spoken about endlessly before Pakistan's opening game of this World Cup
now reads India 6, Pakistan 0. It is not a good reading for Pakistan fans, even
though they can smile about the fact that Pakistan has won significantly more
games than India in the history of ODI cricket between the two sides. For some
reason, when it comes to World Cups, it just doesn't work for the Greens.
300 might be
a daunting total, but on a flat Adelaide pitch with smallish boundaries, it was
definitely chaseable. Pakistan lost the game when they lost 3 wickets for 1 run
in 8 deliveries during the middle of their chase. Good catching by the Indians
and misfortune combined to end a million Pakistani dreams. Yet Pakistan fans
must not lose heart, for this is just the start of the World Cup and it has
been proven in the past that a loss to India means nothing in the grander
scheme of things.
The bookmakers though remain unfazed by the result of this first game with Pakistan still remaining at 22/1 to win the tournament outright and India sticking at 8/1, which are the same prices as when the tournament began. Things are likely to change in the market after the second round of matches (especially if Pakistan fail to beat the West Indies).
Odds taken from Bet365 - if you're planning to join read this review to find out what's on offer.
The bookmakers though remain unfazed by the result of this first game with Pakistan still remaining at 22/1 to win the tournament outright and India sticking at 8/1, which are the same prices as when the tournament began. Things are likely to change in the market after the second round of matches (especially if Pakistan fail to beat the West Indies).
Odds taken from Bet365 - if you're planning to join read this review to find out what's on offer.
Here are my 5 key post match thoughts.
1. Sohail Khan lived up to his word and
proved everyone wrong
The biggest
silver lining for Pakistan was Sohail Khan's heartening performance. Sohail
received plenty of criticism due to his performances, or rather the lack of, in
the matches leading up to this World Cup. The general perception had become
that the pace bowler from Karachi was all talk and no action.
However, he
was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers against India, and lived up to his word of
attacking the Indian batsmen and picking up the coveted wicket of Virat Kohli,
whom Sohail had openly targeted before the match.
Sohail Khan
became the first Pakistani bowler to pick up a 5 wicket haul in his first World
Cup match, and only the third bowler to pick up a 5 wicket haul in a Pakistan
vs India World Cup match.
2. Virat Kohli Proves why he is one of the
best
The
difference between the two teams in my opinion was Virat Kohli. He played a
completely unnatural innings and held it together for India. It was not a
typical all guns blazing Kohli innings but a more sedate and responsible
innings, which was the need of the hour in a crunch game for India. One must
remember that Kohli was woefully out of form going into this game and he had
not performed at all in the ODIs India played in Australia for their World Cup
build up.
But Kohli
showed why he is India's and the world's best and brought his best to open
India's World Cup campaign with a bang.
Kohli became
the first Indian batsman to score a century in a World Cup game against
Pakistan. Prior to this game, India's best individual score was Sachin
Tendulkar's 98 at Centurion in 2003. Kohli's 107 is now also the highest
individual score by any batsman from either side in a Pakistan vs India World
Cup match.
3. Pakistan's Spin Twins Fail
Pakistan had
high hopes from Yasir Shah who has been in wicket taking form since the
beginning of the season. There is definitely something about Yasir, who is
regarded by Shane Warne as the best leg spinner in the world currently; but he
failed to deliver today. He was Pakistan's most expensive bowler in the game
with his 8 overs going for 60 runs. Much was expected from Shahid Afridi as
well who was supposed to be Pakistan's ace given the lack of experience of
Pakistan's pacers. But he too failed with the ball.
Perhaps,
everyone forgot how good Indian batsmen are against spin. Pakistan's 20 overs
of spin, 8 each from Yasir and Afridi and 4 from Haris, cost them 136 runs and
got them no wickets. While their 30 overs of pace resulted in 6 wickets for
just 162 runs.
4. How long will Pakistan persist with Younis
Khan?
I fail to
understand what Pakistan's fascination with Younis Khan is. Everyone knows that
he is a world class test batsman. The world's best in my opinion. But everyone
one also knows that he is an utter failure as an ODI batsman. He was not
supposed to be a part of Pakistan's World Cup plans, yet a public outburst and
a significant amount of test runs, resulted in his inclusion at the completely
unfair expense of Fawad Alam.
Fine, he
made it into the squad, but why is Pakistan persisting with him in the playing
XI when he is continuously failing. Pakistan's middle order of Haris Sohail,
Misbah Ul Haq, Sohaib Maqsood, and Umar Akmal pretty much selected themselves. Yet
Pakistan were so desperate to include Younis Khan in the XI that he was asked
to open, a role that he has never done internationally or domestically. That
too in a World Cup match.
I wonder
what Pakistan would have done if Hafeez was still around. How would they have
fit in Younis Khan then?
With Sarfraz
Ahmed and Nasir Jamshed, two batsman who have opened for Pakistan, on the
bench, it made absolutely no sense to open with Younis Khan. The reason given
for dropping Sarfraz from the XI was that he has been unable to score runs in
NZ and Australia in the build up to the World Cup. Well how many runs has
Younis Khan scored?
Opting for
Younis over Sarfraz meant that not only were Pakistan already playing with one
wicket down, they also lost their specialist wicket keeper. Sure Sarfraz has
lost a bit of form in new conditions, but he is a valuable player. He can take
the attack to the opposition, and is also a safer bet behind the stumps than
Umar Akmal.
If Pakistan
are serious about this World Cup then they need to get their XI right and they
need to stop reeling under the pressure from a senior player who insists on
playing with total disregard to what is good for the team. If Shahid Afridi
could drop Shoaib Akhtar during the World Cup in 2011, there is no reason why
Misbah Ul Haq cannot do the same to Younis Khan.
5. Umar Akmal does not deserve criticism
Umar Akmal
was the last of the three wickets that Pakistan lost in the span of 8
deliveries and he has been severely criticized; not only for getting out for a
duck, but also for dropping Virat Kohli when he was on 76. I don't think Kohli's
drop at that stage made much of a difference; India would have still got to 300 had
they lost Kohli then.
Regarding U
Akmal's batting; I have said it before and I will say it again, he is a proven
performer. He played crucial knocks, 39 off 41 and 65 off 66, in both of
Pakistan's successful chases in the warm up matches against Bangladesh and
England respectively. He has consistently scored runs for Pakistan in limited
overs cricket, and he will continue to do so.
On top of
all that, I also believe that he got a harsh decision. The snicko hardly moved
from its baseline. I am not sure what Steve Davis saw and how he thought that
the evidence on screen was conclusive enough to overturn the on field umpire's
decision. When the big screen showed "OUT", it shocked not only the
viewers, but also the commentators. It was a shocking decision in my opinion.
As I
mentioned in the beginning, a loss to India means nothing in the grander scheme
of things. Pakistan lost to them in 1992 yet won the World Cup. They lost to
them in 1999 yet played the Final. They lost to them in the Asia Cup in 2012
yet won the Asia Cup title. They beat them in the Asia Cup in 2014 but lost the
Asia Cup Final.
The
tournament has just begun and Pakistan's campaign has a long road ahead. With a
little bit of tweaking of the XI, the Greens can rise again.
.jpg)
Great thoughts and about the Virat Kohli you are absolutely correct and he showed his performance again on the match of Pakistan Vs India. He hits 107 runs in the match.