Man.... what a day and what a game. Had a big viewing party at my cousin's. Whole family was there. Lots of kids, lots of people and lots of fun. And then the match happened.
First of all, awesome awesome work by the Pakistan team. They thoroughly outplayed 3 of the favorites and totally deserve to be the Champions at the end of this tournament. I am amazed that a team that had to do course correction just a couple of weeks ago is now at this stage but such is life. They got on a roll and they never stopped. All credit to Sarfraz, Arthur and the rest of the coaching and management of the Pakistan team. It was a pleasure and a privilege to watch the sort of attacking cricket they played over the past two weeks, culminating in an amazing display in the final against a very strong Indian side. They were positive, they got some luck early on, they went for it and never let up. There is a time and a place to analyze if their side can go on to be a champion side, but they are definitely getting into the top 3 in the world if they can keep up this form. And I cant be happier for the Pak fans here at CW. Some of the best lot we have seen (notwithstanding the PP crap that spouts in now and then) and have had to put up with their team basically being a joke and a punchline in the LO format. And today they stand tall as champions. Fabulous stuff from the Men in Green and fabulous stuff for the supporters.
Big credit to BW here. He mentioned it right off the bat in the first game that to beat India, Pak has to bat first. And so they did.
As far as India is concerned, they do not become a bad side overnight. There is a lot to dissect from a performance like this and there are various talking points across the board. But to me, the biggest concern here is Bumrah and his temperament. He got Fakhar out and it was a no ball. Big deal. It happens in cricket. He then bowled a good follow up for the free hit delivery and then bowled another good length ball at pace outside off. Fakhar threw his bat, french cut it for four. And then it seemed Bumrah just burst. Wides, no balls, balls either side of the wicket, no planned length or line and it continued throughout the match. You got one man in on the leg side at square leg and you bowl a leg stump half volley. It was Umesh Yadav stuff. And Bumrah is supposed to be that rare breed in cricket, the intelligent fast bowler. He definitely crumbled under the pressure yesterday and I just do not get it. They were 9/0 after 3 overs and maybe it was something like 16/0 after 3.2 and then he just combusted. That is not a good sign. For a man who is a bit of a death overs specialist, you would expect him to keep his head a bit more under such circumstances.
Ashwin has to decide if he is going to be a wicket taking spinner or not. If he is going to try and be another Harbhajan, he is not needed in this side. Its a waste of time now and the management need to have a serious chat with him and his bowling plans as far as LO cricket goes. I am not gonna blame our batting too much coz collapses happen, esp. in a big final facing a steep target. They just outplayed us and that is that. It happens in cricket, it has happened to better teams than us in the past and it will happen in the future too.
My worry about India is that this is a decidedly stronger side than the one we put out in the CT in 2013 or the WC in 2015. And yet, there is a template and a pace these guys are comfortable with. And to be fair to them, it does work 90% of the time. But the 10% that it does not work, esp. in KO games, we just look lost. We aim to be the Australia of the 2000s and yet we are still only the South Africa of the late 90s. Need to figure out if Yuvi and MSD are the best long term options. MSD should bat up the order against the Windies as he seems to have totally lost his knack of keeping the strike rotating within the fielding restriction overs. He used to do it well with some well timed aggression mixed with sharp rotation of the strike in his early years and he needs to get it back. You cannot be a world beating side if you can't have folks at #4 and #5 who can't bat through the innings.
All in all, excellent display from Pakistan. I had said earlier that if India cannot win, I wanted England to win. But Pakistan have played a similar brand of likeable cricket and to top it off, they can attack with their bowling too. So really glad that if we had to lose, we lost to them. Kudos to the Pak team and all their supporters here. This one is a well earned one. Enjoy guys!!!
