T20 World Cup: Cricket’s moneyspinner an anti-climax as India race to big win

It may be early days to say whether the ongoing T20 World Cup will be remembered as Ishan Kishan’s comeback affair, but the pocketsized Indian opener showed showed a big heart with his breathtaking 77 off 40 balls in the needle game against Pakistan this evening. The spinners of Pakistan, however, struck back in the middle overs to set up the game nicely but their batters undid all the good work during the chase to hand over a 61-run win at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

 It was yet another one-sided affair as India extended their sequence of T20I World Cup wins against Pakistan to 8-1, with the lone Pakistan win coming in the 2021 World T20 in Dubai. A three-out-of-three propelled India to Super Eight from Group A while the green shirts have put their chances of going forward in peril as their run-rate has now dropped to -0.403.

 A 176-run target was never going to be easy on the tacky surface with the ball gripping, but it was the new ball duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya who struck telling blows within the first two overs to reduce them to 13 for three. It needed at least two strong partnerships of character against the spin troika of Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav, but it never came barring a spirited 44 by the wicketkeeper-batter Usman Khan. The green shirts' gamble of sending India into bat hence misfired as the expected dew was minimal - so was their planning of the chase.

 On a surface where the ball was gripping and holding, Pakistan were off to a dream start when the in-form Abhishek Sharma fell for his second duck of the tournament in the first over. They doubled down on spin, sending down five overs of it inside the powerplay, only the 13th instance in T20 World Cup history that a fifth over of spin had been bowled in that phase.

 Kishan, however, refused to let the early setback slow him down. The best part of his innings was the manner he did not let the occasion of the big game get better of him, rocking back to pull the left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi for a towering six. It was an innings of high risk-high reward variety as they surged to 52 for one after powerplay.

The field spread after the sixth over, but Kishan did not relent. Three boundaries in three deliveries outside the powerplay ensured Pakistan could not regain control. A boundary off Abrar brought up a stunning fifty off just 27 balls, drawing applause from the Indian dugout and briefly silencing the Pakistani huddle.

 There was a moment of concern when Kishan went down clutching his right leg after attempting a reverse-sweep. He laid on his back grimacing as the physio stretched him, and play paused for a couple of minutes. He eventually returned to his feet and resumed, even as Afridi was seen getting his right knee strapped up at the other end.

Pakistan's decision to hold back Usman Tariq eventually paid off. A ball after reverse-pulling Saim Ayub for four, Kishan backed away in an attempt to access the leg side, but the delivery was a touch too full and clipped the top of leg stump. His dismissal left India at 88 for 2 in 8.4 overs, roughly 20 runs above par for the conditions.  

It was for the first time that any side had used six frontline spinners in their attack in a T20I game – though it was the crafty Sami Ayub, instead of mystery spinner Usman Tariq, who did the most damage when he was on a hattrick after sending back Tilak Varma and Pandya in the 15th over the innings. A blow, which have prevented the Men in Blue to reach the 200-run mark, but it turned out to be more than enough.