Mohammad the magician
Amir leads Pakistan to crushing win over India
Pakistan, at their most magnificent, swarmed all over India to win the Champions Trophy by 180 runs. It was the same template as when they won their previous global one-day tournament, the 1992 World Cup, in that Pakistan were hopeless at the outset of this tournament, which they entered as the eighth-ranked ODI team, to be demolished by India in their opening qualifier. Yet, England in the semifinal and India in the final could not live with them.
Having failed to reach 250 hitherto in this tournament, Pakistan posted 338 for four on the back of a dashing century by Fakhar Zaman, who slammed 114 off 106 balls, then bowled out India in only 30.3 overs on the back of Mohammad Amir’s opening spell.
Again the importance of the opening partnership was illustrated to England, for whom it was the Achilles’ heel: Pakistan had slumped to eighth partly because they had gone 35 ODIS without a century opening stand, but once the left-handed Zaman was paired with the steady Test opener Azhar Ali, they launched Pakistan with 118 against England, and 128 off only 23 overs against India.
“I’ve had five semi-finals with South Africa and never got to a final,” Pakistan’s coach Mickey Arthur said. “I got to one final with Pakistan and eventually got a medal, so that’s fantastic, but the credit goes to the players.”
India captain Virat Kohli generously admitted: “They [Pakistan] made us make those mistakes because of the way they were bowling and the way they applied the pressure in the field as well, and we have no hesitations or shame to admit that we could not play our best game today.”
Pakistan’s cricket is often hailed as myste- rious and inexplicable instead of being the product of its environment, which it naturally is. Their aspiring cricketers pick up a bat and grip it as they like, without coaches telling them to use their leading elbow, and bowlers cannot extract bounce out of grassless pitches, like concrete, so they move it sideways instead: hence batsmen like Zaman with his strong bottom hand.
As for inconsistency, or “unpredictability”, it stems from an infrastructure, which is not wellresourced by comparison with India’s, England’s and Australia’s: hence Pakistan could field like drains against India in the qualifier, and like a dream in the final.
The century by Zaman was not the best innings played in a global one-day final because there was so much playing and missing and topedging if the ball was short. It was, however, the most audacious and he had much of which to be proud.
Zaman, 27, dared to reach for the stars – never having played a oneday international before last month – and in his four innings in this Champions Trophy, he scored 30, 51, 57 against England, and his 114 made him man of the match.
The critical moment of Pakistan’s innings, and the match, was the half-second before Zaman was caught behind off Jasprit Bumrah for only three. The bowler’s front foot was an inch over the popping crease. Pakistan would have been eight for one wicket in the fourth over, and struggling to get the ball off the square. Instead, at the end of that over, they were up and running at 19 without loss and sensing it would be their day.
Having been tied down on leg stump, Zaman was favoured with plenty of width after this let-off and he cashed in, especially against India’s spinners, scoring 78 off 56 balls from the Ravis, Ashwin and Jadeja, either running down the pitch to swipe, drive and flay, or else rocking back and using the full depth of his crease.
What was India’s strength – and would have been again if this had been a used pitch, like Cardiff in the semis – was turned into a weakness by Pakistan, who hit 164 runs off 21 overs of spin. Zaman used to be in Pakistan’s navy but he would have been more at home in the army’s cavalry leading a charge.
Just as Amir was Paki- stan’s chief bowler, so was Bhuvneshwar Kumar for India, but his impact was limited by the fact he was not used mid-innings to break one of Pakistan’s stands.
Altogether, Pakistan’s bowlers were far more disciplined than India’s, especially when it came to conceding extras. Bumrah, so intent on not giving Zaman width, donated four leg-side wides in his first three overs.
Amir’s opening spell of six overs clinched the cup: it contained three wickets, two maidens and a dropped slip catch. His third ball was the ideal inswinger, pinning Rohit Sharma half-forward. Kohli then played for swing – and edged a straightforward chance to Azhar Ali at first slip, who fumbled – before
‘We have no shame to admit that we could not play our best game’
slicing a catch to point. Amir had taken out India’s top three when his cross-seamer bounced and had Shikar Dhawan caught behind.
Shadab Khan, a brilliant allrounder in the making, and already Pakistan’s best fielder, overturned Yuvraj Singh and Richard Kettleborough’s original not-out decision. Shadab was driven for three consecutive sixes by Hardik Pandya, who smote 76 off 43 before being run out to his fury, yet still Sarfraz Ahmed kept Shadab on for another over, whereas prudence would have withdrawn him from the firing line. But Pakistan at their best do not do doubt, and prudence has never won a global trophy.
England’s own team are lucky to get a few hundred thousand viewers for their matches
The claims before the match were that half a billion, even one billion, might be watching. There are lies, damn lies, and viewing claims for worldwide TV audiences, but whatever it was, you can bet that the number of viewers for India versus Pakistan yesterday was a lot. And you can further bet that the numbers dropped sharpish once Virat Kohli edged that ball to point. Indians may declare an ardent love for cricket, but stadium footfall and viewing numbers suggest that what they really love is watching certain Indian batsmen carry all before them. Most days, they get their wish.
Regardless, sport on television does not come bigger than this and, no question, this was a major worldwide event.
Prior to yesterday’s match, the International Cricket Council was estimating 360-odd million viewers.
For the previous meeting of these sides in this competition – and what a handy stroke of luck that they were drawn in the same group, eh? – there were 324million watching, of which number just over 200million were Indian.
Incidentally, I have it on good authority from a senior figure inside one of our own satellite sports broadcasters that, while people watching illegally on download streams is a worry, their ballpark estimate is of only five to 10 per cent of the legit viewer numbers. So, assuming an additional further 10 per cent of tech-savvy spivs getting their Indiapakistan entertainment under the table, that’s about 400million viewers.
There was a great picture from the Oval of fans outside the ground, pressing their noses up against the gates, desperate to get a glimpse of the big screen. How the England team, and indeed the England cricket system, must have sympathised. This was supposed to be their party, the day on which Eoin Morgan’s swashbuckling new generation finally claimed a 50-over title. Those hopes were crushed by Pakistan in the semi. But results come and results go: what was more striking about the action from the Oval was just how foreign it was, not so much in the cricket played, but in the passion shown.
England may have been hosting the tournament, but the game no longer belongs to England. A generation of pay-tv has killed it as an entertainment product in this country as far as the team with three lions on its cap goes, and sticking a few highlights on the BBC way past bedtime is too little, too late. Fixture overload and a policy of hoovering up any player who catches our eye from Dublin to Durban to Dunedin have also played their part.
Four hundred million might have been watching worldwide, but England’s own team are lucky to get a few hundred thousand viewers for their matches.
In the post-match interviews, boxer Amir Khan joined the Sky crew for a few words of delight about his team’s (i.e. Pakistan’s) triumph. Khan reckoned it might inspire young Brits of Pakistani origin to take up cricket, and that they would then go on to represent England. Perhaps that is the future make-up of the England team: private schoolboys mixed with talented kids of Asian heritage from former industrial cities.
And maybe that’s fine, maybe that is the future for cricket here, perhaps it does now belong to lads in Tooting and Bradford who cheer for Pakistan, or India, or Bangladesh, and not to the shires. There has been a tipping point for the Tebbit Test, and if the flame of cricket is going to be kept alive in this country, then better by people supporting whatever team with whom they identify, rather than none at all.