India Demonstrate Their All Round Strength, Hammer Pakistan

Kuldeep Yadav missed his length twice against PAK in Ahmedabad in Match 12 of the 2023 World Cup today. Both times, it cost IND a boundary. He bowled a full toss to Babar Azam (on 46) on the last ball of the 30th over and got driven for four to the off-side boundary. He dragged one short to Iftikhar Ahmed on the 4th ball of the 34th over, and was hammered to the mid-wicket boundary. In his first over, Kuldeep missed his line and drifted outside Imam-ul-Haq’s leg-stump, and got glanced fine for a boundary.

Apart from this, Kuldeep conceded one boundary to Mohammad Rizwan - a fine lap sweep off the stumps - and 23 runs in all. He bowled 36 of his 60 balls to Babar Azam (who managed 10(18)) and Mohammad Rizwan 9(18). Along with Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep bowled 13 overs for 48 against Rizwan and Babar. In the 8 overs they bowled in tandem (20-27), Pakistan progressed from 102/2 to 131/2 - 29 runs. With only four fielders on the boundary, and Rohit Sharma placing one at slip, it was a masterful display of restrictive bowling.

There are bowlers in ODI cricket who bowl to restrict. They do this by bowling to their field and making the batter risk dismissal to find a boundary. For instance, Kuldeep and Jadeja bowl wicket-to-wicket, and rarely miss their length. They are quick through the air, making it difficult for the batter to run down the pitch against them.

And then there are bowlers like Mitchell Starc and Mohammed Siraj who bowl to dismiss. They bowl attacking lengths relentlessly, where in, if there’s some movement, the batter’s attacking stroke will be beaten, but if there isn’t, then runs will result. Currently, IND have two superb bowlers who answer to this description - Mohammad Siraj, and the more experienced Mohammad Shami. Siraj’s recent returns have made him IND’s first choice currently. Siraj, it appears, has the Indian captain’s carte blanche to chase wickets. He has done this superbly all year, and did it well again today.

All in all, there’s just too much good bowling in the current IND squad, especially in Indian conditions where about 22 overs of spin are bowled on average in an ODI innings (as opposed to 16 in 2019 World Cup in England). With the benefit of hindsight, the wicket was probably a little bit drier than IND thought it would be. They didn’t think it was a wicket on which three spinners were merited. It is likely that they were spooked by NZ’s rapid run chase here against ENG.

191 was probably about 50 runs less than IND would have expected to concede, and about 100 runs less than most bowling sides in this World Cup would have expected to concede (mainly because no other side, so far, offers a similarly deep combination of pace and spin). A number of PAK batters fell to early mistakes. IND probably should not expect such returns with the ball every time. But they have shown that it will take a batting line up which is prepared to chance its arm against them to make a par score.

IND have now beaten PAK in 5 of their last 6 meetings (the 6th was abandoned after one innings due to rain). They have not lost to PAK since June 2017, when PAK won the Champions Trophy Final. This is now IND’s longest winning streak against PAK both in terms of years and matches. In the 2012-13 season, PAK beat IND 2-1 in a three match ODI series in India. Since then, they have beaten IND in 2 out of 11 ODI fixtures. IND have won 8. PAK’s longest streak against IND came in 1998-99 when they beat IND 8 times in 8 matches from September 13 1998 to April 8, 1999.

IND looked worryingly complete for all opposition so far. Their completeness, however, is dependant on one, or if one is generous, two players for whom they have no ready replacement. IND do not have a back up seam bowling number six batter as back up for Hardik Pandya. And they do not have a spinner of Ravindra Jadeja’s quality who bats as well as Jadeja. IND will hope that both their all-rounders stay fit and healthy for the whole tournament. These two all rounders are the key to IND being able to play six bowlers and seven batters in their XI. Without them, IND will start having to make compromises with their bowling and batting lineups, and no longer retain the exquisite balance of their current first choice XI.

IND fairly hammered the PAK bowling to reach 191 with 19 overs to spare. The batting will have an off day at some point during the tournament too. It is unlikely that KL Rahul will play the entire tournament without being dismissed. But, they find themselves in a strong position after three fixtures. As long as they win three out of their remaining six fixtures, they should qualify for the last four comfortably.