India lost terribly against New Zealand and Pakistan won convincingly against Bangladesh. But for me, none of that matters at all when it is an India-Pakistan clash. Form and recent history simply doesn’t matter.
That day stands out on its own. The atmosphere will be unique, the pressure will be different. That we lost the previous game to New Zealand will be simply forgotten as the ‘big’ match starts in Kolkata.
If we talk about records, the Kiwis managed to maintain their perfect winning run against India in T20s despite recent performances of the hosts. India has a similar record against Pakistan to uphold. We have never lost to them in any World Cup match. And I am sure they will be able to keep their 100 per cent record intact.
There isn’t much wrong with the team combination. The same set of players has been performing very well over the past few months. All they need is a bit of confidence. There is no need to panic or make any drastic changes to the team or the batting order.
Yes, if they think the Kolkata wicket will also give a lot of help to the spinners, maybe they can look at bringing in Harbhajan Singh in place of Hardik Pandya. Harbhajan brings a lot to the table. He will bowl four good overs, has a ton of experience and more than capable of hitting sixes down the order.
On the batting front, the only change needed is that if we get a good start, MS Dhoni should bat up the order. Otherwise, a Suresh Raina or Yuvraj Singh should be sent in.
I admit we suffered a heavy defeat against New Zealand on a pitch that should have suited us perfectly. But I don’t think the defeat is a psychological blow for the team. I am sure the players are not thinking too much about the result. Most of them are seasoned campaigners now. They know victory and defeat and part and parcel of the game.
But we do need to learn from our mistakes. India’s defeat was a bit of a shock for everyone, including me. And the way they lost also took many by surprise.
However, looking at the overall game, I don’t think the wicket in Nagpur was that good. It was very slow and there was a lot of turn in it for the spinners. Also, the ball was stopping after pitching, so batting was very difficult on it, especially in the second innings.
Having said that, it wasn’t impossible to bat on. You have to admit that at the end of the day, the Indian batsmen’s shot selection was bad. Someone should have taken the responsibility of staying on the wicket and seeing the side home, but no one did that.
India’s batting flopped due to a mixture of soft dismissals and poor shot selection. But one should also not take anything away from the New Zealand spinners. They were playing together in India for the first time and full credit to them for absorbing all that pressure and then delivering.
The Kiwi spinners’ line and length was spot on. They knew exactly when to attack, what speed to bowl, what variations to bring in. They ended up taking nine out of the 10 wickets and you really have to applaud the efforts of Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodi and Nathan McCullum.
The best part about the Kiwis’ bowling effort was that not a single bowler, who bowled more than three overs, went for more than 20 runs. So, once you get so many dot balls in a T20 match, it becomes very difficult for the batting team. But I still feel if the Indian batsmen had applied themselves, the match could have been won because it was a target of less than 130.
Looking at Indian’s bowling against the Kiwis, Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling figures were not that good compared to that of the Kiwis. But I believe if New Zealand had bowled first, even their figures would not have been so flattering. Because they bowled second on a wicket that was offering way more help than the first innings, they probably fared better than our spinners.
Another difference between the sides was that their batsmen played out the entire 20 overs. They didn’t have the pressure of a target, so that could wait for their opportunity.
But all that is behind them now and the next target in front of them is the match against Pakistan, then clashes against Bangladesh and Australia.
Pakistan’s bowling attack no doubt is one of the best going around. But if you look at their game against Bangladesh, even though they had 200 on board, the Tigers almost made 150 while chasing and lost only six wickets. So if Bangladesh can score that much while chasing, I am sure India can score 170 and that will put a lot of pressure on their batting line-up.
It's #IND
— ICC (@ICC) March 19, 2016
It's #PAK
It's #INDvPAK
It's #WT20
It's as big as it gets
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Interestingly, people are saying that Shahid Afridi is back after his all-round performance against Bangladesh. But I feel that was his first substantial knock with the bat since 2012. So going by that record, his next big innings might come three years later. He is like a bomb that can explode anytime, anywhere. He can explode either on India or Pakistan. You never know what to expect from him.
What I do know is that it is difficult for India at the moment. But that makes the match against Pakistan a lot more fun. Both teams have registered completely different results coming into this clash and it will make things spicy. It is true India’s net run rate is very poor at the moment. But I am sure they can recover from the opening defeat. If you look at the 2011 World Cup, we lost only one match and that was also in Nagpur. If we could win the World Cup then, we can win now as well.
