Many twists and turns

The highly anticipated India-Pakistan T20 cricket match in Dhaka was an amalgamation of crisis, chaos, a comedy of errors and lots of drama. Overall it turned out to be quite the thriller. The pitch was lush green, which promised movement and bounce to the seamers. The dew also played its part. To begin with, India was lucky. The toss went in their favour and a confident MS Dhoni opted to bowl.

The first over in itself promised much drama as Nehra managed to move the ball in both directions. 

Unfortunately, Pakistan batting lacked in discipline throughout the innings. Questions were also raised off the fitness of senior players. As most of the Pakistani team batted like amateurs, who had forgotten basic techniques, some even challenged the arm of Indian fielders and succumbed to run outs. Shahid Afridi was one such culprit. While Shahid Afridi lost his wicket cheaply, the other more established senior batsmen in Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal completely defied their reputation and took up responsibility. A brief resistance from wicketkeeper Sarfraz took the team total to a paltry 83. Despite a low score, the pundits knew that the game was not going to be a cakewalk for India.

When the Indian’s came in to bat minus Shikhar Dhawan, the responsibility for a brisk start was on Rohit Sharma. Mohammad Aamir had the ball in his hand. After a long hiatus from the game, Aamir came in as a man making up for lost time.  Bowling the first over at speeds over 145km/h, allied with swing and bounce, Aamir created havoc. The first ball left Sharma clueless, the next caught him napping and was soon sent back to the pavilion. Rahane and Raina too were clueless about the pace at which the balls were coming at them. 

Mohammad Irfan, Sami and Aamir made sure that Pakistan wasn’t going down without a fight. India was in a thick soup as Kohli barely avoided the ball and Yuvraj looked like he couldn’t see it at all. However, as the overs went by, both Yuvraj and Kohli steadied the ship and managed to survive the onslaught. Once Aamir’s four overs were done, Kohli took charge of the Indian scoring as Yuvraj still looked out of form and place. Unfortunate, the Vice Captain from Delhi fell to a wrongly adjudged leg before wicket decision.

However, Dhoni did manage to come out and quickly score the winning runs taking India over the line. Pakistan made 84 runs a real target for the Indians. Lucky for the Indians, Pakistan’s clumsy batting ensured that India did not have to chase any more runs.