Matchup Monday #9 - IND Claim Victory Over PAK

1. India Wins By 6 Runs Against Pakistan

What a game.

OVERVIEW

This game has demonstrated the imperativeness of having a sophisticated and coordinated bowling attack and that Pakistan lacks the capability to execute under pressure.

We saw this against the USA and again in front of India. No matter how many times you middle it or execute the yorker in the nets, the match performance is what everyone sees.

Pakistan had many things in their favour to win this match, from a total that was a run a ball, the sun improving the pitch for their batting side after the rain that Rohit and Virat were exposed to and even Shivam Dube dropping a sitter of Rizwan.

Yet they became complacent and comfortable, particularly Imad Wasim and Iftikhar Ahmed’s lack of intent towards the back end of the chase. They already started visualising the celebrations back home when they had wickets in hand and at a point, an RRR of less than 6.

THE PITCH AND INDIA’S ON-FIELD PERFORMANCE

With all the talk about the pitch and how it will affect the totals of both teams, we forget that the pitch can be considered a constant in this ‘experiment’, it will be the same for both teams.

Thus, it is the perfect medium in this match to deduce which team is truly superior as the superior team will demonstrate a more developed ability to adapt and execute in unfamiliar circumstances.

If India lost this match, many would blame the image above as the catalyst moment for the defeat, and for his sake, luckily India won.

The reason for this mishap is not because ‘now and then people drop catches’, however, it is the Impact Player rule in the IPL and how it has caused Dube to sit on the sidelines when CSK were fielding, another flaw Jah Shah has presented to the IPL.

Why was Dube even selected, from the moment he stepped onto the crease and faced his first delivery, his intent went on a decline. His dismissal was also the softest the tournament will witness, crumbling under the tension.

I ask you, when was a time you thought, ‘Dube was the main reason why 𝑥 team won today!’

Exactly.

He might come in and hit a couple of sixes, then he will get out.

He needs to have that versatility that players such as Riyan Parag have that when it is time to hit he can, and when he needs to build a partnership and play the long game, he will. Why else is Kohli so great?

This match was also a statement to the scrutiny Team India has faced regarding the ‘batting-heavy’ side they went into the tournament with. Players such as Bumrah, Axar and HP (bizarrely) stepped up and played professionally.

However, I believe all the selectors are making a grave mistake by selecting players on the basis of experience levels. The T20 WC is in a country where none have them have played there before, so is it the right approach to select players on their performance and experience in other countries?

No.

All the players will be coming to the USA and West Indies with little to no experience in this region, so what the selectors should be looking for is players such as Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh and Sai Sudharsan.

These players were relatively unheard of ‘pre-IPL’ and when they heard of the chance of having exposure like no other on the IPL stage, they leapt at it with open arms.

That is what we call dynamic players, where they can assess the conditions competently and execute from their observations and not overthink it.

And is nobody going to talk about Jadeja?

There is no point when Ajit Agarkar is the selector with Jay Shah.