Pakistan: 159/8 (20)

Starting with the game of recent memory, we have the first match for Group 2 in the recently-concluded ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. India would win the toss and choose to bowl. Bhuvneshwar Kumar would come one wide away from a maiden over to open the game. Young Arshdeep Singh, in his WC debut, would then hit the paydirt by getting captain Babar Azam out lbw on the first ball of his over! Pakistan looked very nervy early on, with Virat Kohli missing a potential runout chance when the batter was nowhere in the picture. Bhuvi kept the Pakistani batters under pressure, and Arshdeep would reap the rewards of his hard work again! After causing a chipped-up ball to fall just short of Kohli, Arshdeep would get wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan out in the deep at fine leg. Pakistan now lost both openers all in a matter of four overs, with the score at 15/2.

Pakistan would then find some stability in the form of Shan Masood and Ifthikar Ahmed. That stability almost didn’t continue, had Ravichandran Ashwin made a catch at fine leg to remove Masood. Ifthikar would target spinners Ashwin and Axar Patel to go from a run-a-ball 21 to a 32-ball 51. However, once pace was reintroduced, Mohammed Shami got him out on the second ball of his over. Ifthikar would have a 34-ball 51. Shadab Khan would get a promotion but not contribute much, with a 6-ball 5 and Hardik Pandya getting the wicket. Pandya’s over, his second, was a crucial one for the Indians, as he would strike again with the wicket of Haider Ali on 2(4).

Ashwin would have another chance to get Masood out on a ball hit straight back at him, but he could not hold on for the caught-and-bowled. Pakistan were at 106/5 at the end of the 15th over now. Pandya would get hit for two fours against Mohammad Nawaz but would get him to glove a ball to the keeper, Dinesh Karthik, on short ball with extra bounce. Nawaz ended his night with a 6-ball 9. Arshdeep would then get the only remaining Pakistani batter to come in, Asif Ali, for a 3-ball 2. With just bowlers left to occupy the crease, Masood needed to get a move on, so he targeted Shami for two fours. With that, he would go to 49(39).

Now, Pakistan were at 135/7 with two overs left. Arshdeep, who had been phenomenal the rest of the day, would get hit for a six and a four by none other than Shaheen Shah Afridi. Masood would also complete his 50 in that over. Pakistan were now at 149/7 with the end of the 19th over. Bhuvi would start the last over with a wide and a single but get Shaheen out caught-and-bowled for 16(8). Haris Rauf would hit a six off of him first ball but then would swing and miss the next two balls. On the last ball, Rauf and Masood would steal two byes after Karthik missed the stumps and Bhuvi’s throw resulting in an overthrow and the second run to be scored.

India: 160/6 (20)

Rohit Sharma and Lokesh Rahul saw Shaheen off in the first over, scoring five runs between them. Naseem Shah would trouble Rahul first ball with an lbw appeal and then bowl him four balls later. Rahul was out for 4 off 8 balls. After another quiet Shaheen over (only three runs scored), Haris Rauf would remove India’s other opener and captain, Sharma (7-ball 4), with help from Ifthikar at slip. India were now reeling at 10/2 at 3.2 overs. Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli could not stabilize things for long, as Yadav would depart on 15(10) and gloving a Rauf ball to Rizwan. Axar Patel would get a promotion for the left hand-right hand combination but it did not pay off, as he would get run out on 2(3). At the end of the seventh over, it was now 33/4 for India, with Kohli and Pandya at the crease.

At this point, Pakistan were favored 88.62% by Cricinfo to win the game! Three overs would pass by, India only getting 45/4 with half of the game over. 24 balls after their last boundary, Pandya would hit Shadab for a four the first over after drinks break. Both Kohli and Pandya would get their blitzkrieg underway by hitting Nawaz for three sixes the next over. Shaheen and Shadab would give up a four each but only give up 16 runs in the two overs between them. Needing 70 off the last six overs, India were at 90/4 with Kohli at 34(33) and Pandya on 30(23). While building this slow-but-steady partnership, Kohli and Pandya would pick and choose when to hit their boundaries, focusing on singles and twos with quick running. Naseem and Rauf would also concede 16 runs between them, with Naseem giving up only one boundary. Naseem would end his four overs with a six-run final over. India now need 48 runs off 18 balls.

Now, in the 18th over, there was a key matchup: Shaheen vs. Kohli. Kohli was up to the task, facing seven deliveries (one was a wide) and hitting him for three fours in the over. After that 17-run over, King Kohli reigned once again by getting two sixes to end Rauf’s over. Rauf had done well with his first four balls, only limiting India to three runs. However, Kohli was too much to overcome, I guess! With that 15-run over, Pakistan were set to defend 16 off the last over. However, they were sending Nawaz out, so the risk for this game to go wrong was there. Nawaz would strike first, removing Pandya on 40(37). Karthik would turn the strike back to Kohli with a single, and Kohli would hit a 2 in the third ball of the over.

And that’s when chaos would ensue… Kohli hit a full-toss for six, and it would count as a waist-high no ball by the umpires! Nawaz, feeling the pressure, would bowl a wide on the free-hit but then bowl Kohli out next ball. The problem is that it was still a free-hit ball, so Kohli and Karthik would steal three byes off the ball. With India needing two runs to win off two balls, Karthik would get stumped by Rizwan and only have a 2-ball 1. Ashwin would watch what was supposed to be the last ball of the over go down the leg side for a wide, thus making it one run to win off one ball. He would be able to get the ball over the infield and score the winning runs for India. What a terrific match and awesome finish! Kohli ended his day with 82(53), the savior of the day for the Men in Blue.