India was looking good to post some good runs on the board to about 150. But wickets keep falling, but Rishabh Pant played some-good innings with a couple of chances, he striked the ball a few times, to up the ante. However, had Rishabh Pant failed, India would not touch even 100 on the board. Once, Rishabh got out playing a rash stroke and this time he was not lucky and so the other batters followed him to lose wickets one by one. Chasing low target for Pakistan looked so easy as it was sunshine in the second half.
A target of 120 was reachable, but it was not just Pakistan to not chase that many runs. They lost by 6 runs to India in the end.
Pakistan bundled out India in their first and probably the last game of this t20 world cup of 2024. India did well to begin with, and with couple of attacking strokes by Rohit Sharma and one from his partner Virat Kohli. However, Pakistan bowlers did well and as usual Haris Rauf given away more than a dozen runs in his first over, but in his second he picked Suryakumar Yadav. That was yet another failure by Kumar against Pakistan.
Haris’s comeback was so good that India was in deep trouble due to the aggressive pace battery of Pakistan to not score even 130. 130 would be too good for India to defend, but in the end India defended a low score of 119 to let Pakistan fans deeply hurt. Babar Azam and his team-mates were looking to celebrate until Imad Wasim, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Shadab Khan consumed too many balls as dots to put runrate required a bit high. So, others followed to hit every ball to put India under pressure.
The POTM Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah with his smiling face made a statement that chasing low target against India is also tough. He was rewarded with the player of the match award. He’s surely a match-winner for India in this t20 world cup.
How Chasing Low Target So Tough
Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj played cleverly to take India to a fighting 119. Unfortunately, Arshdeep was runout and then, India innings ended in the 19th over. One over less than what Pakistan could manage to do in their full 20 overs of the game to win the must win game. They played aggressively as if to bother so much about the NRR.
It happened to couple of teams to chase low target in difficulty, but they did cross the line in the last ball or in the super over. The most popular super over games this t20 world cup were between Oman and Namibia, and between USA and Pakistan.
Namibia won the game by leveling the scores. Scores were level in the USA and Pakistan game too. But USA did well in the super-over in a low scoring game as per the pitch report, and 159 was a poor score to defend easily. The South Africans also were in deep trouble to chase a target of 104, but they did well in the end to beat Netherlands. Pakistan disappointed once again by the statement that says, chasing low target isn’t easy for few other good teams too.
Pakistan showed a pathetic display of chasing low target by not picking singles and doubles. India with couple of good overs by Jasprit Bumrah, ended Pakistan’s hopes to enter the super-eight limelight. The flight is ready for Pakistan, but who knows what’s next. Will Pakistan make in to the super-eight as their first step then to the semis and to the finals? The game of cricket will tell a different story in few days, but not so unusual, time and again.
