One hundred and fifty-two without losses in 17.5 over. Certain numbers hurt you like no other if you are an Indian cricket tragic. It was Pakistan’s unusually composed response to a disappointing 151/7 from India in the opening of the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai’s Ring of Fire. The heavy dew during their pursuit was a skilled ally for the men in green as they beat their despondent and stunned rivals.
Skipper Babar Azam and deputy Muhammad Rizwan he underlined the dominance triggered by Shaheen Shah Afridi’s quick and deadly twin blows that consumed Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.
It had generous shades of thing Mohammed Emir, another mesmerizing talent from the ever-fertile cross-border fast bowling stables, had scored at the Oval in the summer of 2017 in the final of the Champions Trophy. He dismantled a fractured team, faltering from the effects of a well publicized discord between skipper Virat Kohli and manager Anil Kumble.
India was subjected to repeated bullying by Pakistan in the ODI format, especially in Sharjah in the 1980s and 1990s, after that traumatic last ball hit by Javed Miandad against Chetan Sharma in the Australian-Asia Cup final of 1986. But to their credit, India subsequently recovered substantially to dominate its rivals in world events.
They put together several antidotes to erase the painful memories of Miandad’s sweaty slap on the square leg and his cathartic sprint to his weeping colleagues in the pavilion as No. 11 Tausef Ahmed he chased after him deliriously, arms pumping and club raised.
There were other special moments. Ajay Jadeja’s extraordinary cameo and his assault on the speedy Waqar Younis in Bengaluru in 1996. Ganguly’s solo efforts in Toronto in 1997 with bat and ball. Muscular Rajesh Chauhan is six Saqlain Mushtaq in 1997, in a final robbery that silenced a rowdy crowd of over 35,000 in Karachi.
The history of India at the Asia Cup
Hrishikesh Kantikar’s chaotic slog off Saqlain in the twilight and dust of Dhaka in the 1998 Independence Cup final. Venkatesh Prasad’s skilled five for at Manchester’s Old Trafford in the World Cup Super Six clash 1999 and yes, Sachin Tendulkar’s top cut cut Shoaib Akhtar who sailed past the point during a classic Centurion in the 2003 World Cup. That blow meant the end of years of pain.
Add Sreesanth’s grip to beat Misbah-ul-Haq against Joginder Sharma in the inaugural T20 World Cup final in Johannesburg in 2007, and you know it was India that dominated the rivalry now. Defeats in the 2009 Champions Trophy in Centurion and the 2014 Asian Cup in Mirpur can at best be labeled as aberrations.
Armed with an array of dazzling hit makers, all of whom were technically proficient and led by Tendulkar, India seemed to have an answer to all the questions Pakistan posed through their powerful bowling training.
The fact that the pace of India’s bowling stocks has also increased with the quality pacers of the Mossil cities breaking through and Pakistan’s inability to produce enough champion hitters to replace the likes of Inzamam, Younis Khan and Saeed Anwarthat he could attack and defend, seemed to tip the scales sharply in India’s favor.
But when teams don’t play often, it’s the last game between them that he remembers. And this is where Pakistan could have an advantage for Sunday’s match. Especially since it will be held in the same venue as their last meeting.
How India and Pakistan fared in the Asian Cup
Also, in the United Arab Emirates, in the T20I, Pakistan is almost impregnable. India will console themselves by reading the 7-2 statistical advantage they enjoy in the instant format over their legendary rivals. But another statistic should be enough to pierce any air of complacency.
Of the last 17 T20Is in the UAE, Pakistan has only lost one. The semi-final of the T20 WC in Australia. Indian gamers won’t feel alien to the Middle East either, as most of their top players have enough experience playing in the IPL here.
Rohit and Co. would like to deliver a decisive blow to erase the memories of another Sunday 10 months ago. A win will help them gain a mental advantage for a bigger battle to take place another Sunday, two months later, 11,640km southeast of Dubai in Melbourne.
