Pakistan collapse again in a World Cup.

India make it 8-0 in 50-over World Cups.

---

Well, that was a bit shit. Not quite a proper game. Do you remember when the worst thing was if Babar and Rizwan had one of those partnerships that you absolutely want to simulate innings on? Weirdly, that was the last time this game was a contest. Pakistan lost their first game, or the eighth, depending on how you look at it. And India are unbeaten. In more ways than one. 

The collapse (JK)

This game finished when Rizwan was out. The ball didn’t swing, the spin wasn’t much and the seam was non-existent. A score of 250 would not have been enough, but would have been something. 

At 155/2 after 30ish overs, there was plenty of reason to believe this was going to be a very decent score. Babar’s ball was a little low, but let’s be fair, it was not a great shot. A limp wrist guide from the wrong ball. Saud Shakeel went out to spin again when he played back to one that slid on. Since I said he had the best average against it in the world, he’s plummeted. 

Ifthikhar was unlucky, he was out from a wide when dragging the ball back onto the stumps. And then Rizwan got a great ball, we will talk about it later, but wow. Pakistan’s only chance now was that their two spinners made a partnership, but because they had also fallen behind the rate, but Rizwan probably went too hard here and was gone. 

And that was it. No real great bowling, though some nice deliveries. No help off the pitch. Not a huge panic from Pakistan. Just a few wickets that happened to occur close to each other. And they were, 110 short, at least, of a good total. 

Siraj takes important wickets but is expensive (SAK)

Mohammad Siraj conceded 12 runs in his first over. He was just all over the place, really. He pulled back his lengths quite nicely and conceded just 15 runs from the next 4 overs and took Abdullah’s wicket. But I think they want him to bowl full. He is too skilful to keep overpitching, his role in this lineup, especially with no Shami, seems to be chasing early wickets. Let Bumrah be Bumrah, spinners and Hardik for the middle. But they want wickets from Siraj and so he’s pushing.

The problem is he’s not getting any lateral movement, so you can score off him very easily as he comes onto the bat lovely. But when he does bowl short, he has the ability to skid the ball through a little more.  

So counterintuitively it was pulling his length back a little that led to his wickets. 

He was brought back again when Babar and Rizwan were well set and on course to setting a big total. He took a wicket with a ball that Babar thought was going to rise more. Some of this was the wicket. The bouncers didn’t reach the keeper. But India bowlers - as an entire unit - attack the stumps a lot. And this was a good wicket for that method. 

Jasprit Bumrah and the off cutters (JK)

I am obsessed with Bumrah’s off-cutter. I did an entire video on the ball to Ollie Robinson at Lord’s. The situation, the set-up, and everything about it was incredible. But this one today was something else again. 

Jadeja spun a ball early on, and there was a little bit off the straight at times. But mostly the turn was friendly in favour of batting. But how does that explain how Bumrah bowled an off-break at 80mph? I understand that sometimes things happen, and it hits a crack, but I don’t think that was the case. He tried to bowl a cutter, he did bowl a cutter, and it very much cut. 

This was not an unplayable ball, but it’s also not a playable ball. It’s outside off stump, so you are thinking of freeing your arms, you see the lack of pace, but the spin brings it in, and then it hits the top of off. This is the kind of ball you get an inside edge to and feel frustrated about it. Rizwan did neither. 

Kuldeep Yadav v Pakistan (SAK)

Kuldeep Yadav continues to bring out the best in his game against the neighbours. His average is just incredible, and he has picked up 12 wickets from the 6 games. His spell to dismiss Shakeel and Iftikhar proved to be extremely critical in the context of the game. Pakistan doesn’t play him enough, so maybe they have yet to crack the code the way England have. He is also the most prolific left-arm wrist spinner now with 157 wickets to his name. 

Jadeja and Hardik form the ideal 5th bowler (JK)

Ravi Jadeja and Hardik Pandya combined to bowl 15.5 overs and took 4/72. The fact they can get more than 1/3rd of the overs from their all-rounders is a luxury no other team in this World Cup can boast of. New Zealand makes their part-timers work, but it is not really the same thing. Hardik has averaged 25 with the ball since the last World Cup, and Ravi Jadeja is a proper Test-quality bowler. They probably walk into most teams purely on their bowling abilities for a World Cup in Asia. They do not trust Shardul as much I’d think, but they’ve really made that spot a horses-for-courses selection (Ashwin played in Chennai).

Babar Azam is back among the runs (SAK)

Babar Azam came into the tournament with the most runs in this World Cup cycle. However, he saw a drop in his form since the Asia Cup. He had a string of 5 consecutive low scores, but he looked good in his stay at the crease today.

 Pakistan do not have a lot of positives to take from this game. But they would have wanted their skipper to be back among the runs if they are to go ahead in the campaign. 

Pakistan are terrible with the ball (SAK)

Now, it is one thing to struggle to take wickets when you’re just defending 191. However, they have been obliterated by India (mainly Rohit). Without Naseem, they are just not threatening enough with the new ball since Shaheen Afridi has been far from his best. The spinners can barely pick up any wickets. Rauf was almost a no-show today. 

There are Pakistan attacks which could have had a shot at defending this total. Like, if Naseem was here, and Shaheen was near his best. Or if the current Shadab was like the old one. But once the ball didn’t swing much for Shaheen or wobble for Hasan, the only option was bouncers, or Rizwan sliding balls through. 

This just doesn’t feel like a Pakistan attack. It feels like just a collection of bowlers who need their batters to score big runs every match. I used to say that Pakistan just needed a par total and they were in the game, now I think they need above par. 

---