Kohli Anchors Improbable T20 Chase

India chased 160 against Pakistan in 20 overs to beat them in a T20 World Cup fixture today. It was an ODI fixture in miniature. The new ball did a bit, and both teams had top orders designed to respect that. In T20, it is not necessary to do so because there are so few balls (120) and so many wickets (10).

Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are all exquisite batsmen trained to defend their off-stump when the new ball is doing a bit. It will be worth watching out for the way Finn Allen, Alex Hales or Quinton de Kock will respond when the new ball moves a bit in the Powerplay. They may fail too, but its probably better to get out trying to hit a six than it is to get out trying to defend. It’s easy to imagine Allen backing away to leg to Afridi and trying to deposit him over the off side. The four players who opened for India and Pakistan today are unlikely to even contemplate it when the ball is moving.

Kohli survived though, and with Pakistan having posted only 159, the chase was never going to be truly out of reach if further wickets didn’t fall. But before we get into the game, is worth reflecting on the first innings.

India’s fast bowlers - all four - received some assistance from the pitch but the accuracy which we have come to associate with Indian fast bowlers in recent years eluded them. With Pakistan batting rather than hitting, Rohit Sharma setting attacking fields, and the bowlers straying on the pads, or straying into a shorter length without really bowling a bouncer, there were a lot of boundaries and threes of the kind you’d see against the new ball in an ODI in Australia twenty years ago.

Pakistan’s XI hit deeper than India’s in today match. They also had the better bowling matchups. They started the day marginal favorites. After the first 30 of the 40 overs, they were firm favorites. India were 45/4, and needed 115 in the last 10 overs. Pandya and Kohli chanced their arm and survived. Pakistan decided to try and win it in 19 overs, leaving their 5th bowler’s final over for the last. It was a good plan, and on most days, with 11.5 an over to defend, you’d expect the bowling side to grab at least one wicket in 9 overs.

But not today. Kohli and Pandya added 99 in those 9 overs without being separated. Kohli made 62 in 29 balls in those 9 overs. Pandya made 33 in 26. By the time Pakistan had exhausted their four best bowlers, India were still 4 down, and Pakistan were defending 16 from the final over. Despite falling well behind after 30 overs of the match, India have wrestled things back to something akin to parity by the end of the 39th.

As a measure of just how unlikely chasing 115 in the last 10 overs with 6 wickets in hand is, consider that in the first innings of T20 matches, of the 921 innings in which a team has lost 4 wickets in the first 10 overs and not been bowled out, only 37 (or 4%) have produced 115 or more runs in the last 10 overs.

16 is still a steep requirement from the final over, but with the part-timer to bowl it, it could have been worse for India. Pakistan made Nawaz’s life more difficult by asking Rizwan to stand back. This unusual field seemed to disrupt Nawaz’s action, and he bowled a high full toss and a couple of wides in his final over. By the time Rizwan returned to his normal position, 16 from 6 had been reduced to 2 from 2. The first of those produced a stumping. With two required from one, in walked Ashwin.

Among all contemporary cricketers, Ashwin has the strongest claim to Steve Waugh’s ‘Iceman’ tag. Ashwin is never bent out of shape, he never gives an inch, and he never expects any favors either. He coolly took a wide by staying in his position on what was the last ball of the match. His insouciant lofted drive with his trademark lingering follow through would be a worthy indelible memory of today’s fixture.

At the other end though, was Kohli - one of the finest batters in the game, an all time great of the ODI game. These types of mid-range T20 totals (more on these in a bit) let him bat without the score getting out of reach. And he can bat as few others can. His stroke range against pace and spin alike leaves bowlers with few lines and length where they can bank a single (unless he’s prepared to offer them one, which he is, all too often). He played one extraordinary lofted drive for six on the 5th ball of the 19th over against Rauf. But earlier, had jumped out to the left arm spin of Nawaz to deposit him over long-on. These were two outstanding strokes.

The final over was an error riddled microcosm of an error riddled game - a mini-ODI in a T20 World Cup contested by two teams struggling to be at ease with T20. They produced an enjoyable game with a happy result for India. But England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa will not be overly worried by what they saw today.

160 in 120 is an average T20 score. One way of looking at it, is that it is 8 runs an over. Another way of looking at it is that it is 3 fifteen run overs and 17 overs at a run a ball. This is why the chase is always on. No matter how badly things are going with the bat, the scoring rate even in the worst overs is still above 4 an over. With the fourth and fifth bowler delivering 8 of the 20 overs, finding 3-4 overs worth 15 each is rarely out of the question. This is what brings batsmen like Kohli into the game. They’re good enough to identify the bowler who can provide that 15 run over when they’re batting.

In today’s match, India got their 15+ run overs in overs 12, 18, 19 and 20. Pakistan got theirs in overs 12 and 19 (went for 14), and 4 other overs which went for 10 (10, 11, 18 and 20). And yet, the final score was only 8 an over even though neither side was bowled out.

This World Cup though, ought to be won by better T20 sides than this - sides which are far more efficient than the ones who concede about half their batting innings every time to keep wickets in hand. India, to be fair to them, have been trying to change this in 2022. It is debatable how far they’ve come. Their fortunes in this tournament will depend on it.