India’s star bowlers reveal how they plotted Pakistan batsmen’s downfall at Motera
India pacer Mohammed Siraj after dismissing Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Saturday. Pic/AFP
A bowling masterclass, of both spin and pace, saw Team India annihilate arch-rivals Pakistan in their World Cup league match at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Saturday.
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Given the sheer effectiveness and accurate manner in which Team India’s bowlers operated, it wouldn’t have been wrong to move away from the traditional Man of the Match award for once and hand over a Men of the Match prize to the five Indian bowlers, who made the ball talk on demand, leaving Pakistan’s batsmen speechless for most part of the first innings.
To reduce Pakistan from 152-2 at to 191 all out required some shrewd execution, and that’s exactly what the Indian bowlers did. Pacers Jasprit Bumrah (2-19), Mohammad Siraj (2-50) along with Hardik Pandya (2-34) and spinners Kuldeep Yadav (2-35) and Ravindra Jadeja (2-38) shared the Pakistan wickets equally, but only after some meticulous planning.
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Siraj sets Babar up
Siraj revealed how he dismissed Pakistan skipper Babar, who was on a well-made 50 off 58 balls, including seven fours, with a smart ploy. “I set him [Babar] up for that wicket. I first bowled a bouncer to him and he got stuck a bit. Then, I took some time and began chatting with Rohit bhai [Sharma] and Babar thought that another bouncer would be coming his way, but I bowled it a little further up. He stayed back and was beaten,” Siraj said at the post-match press conference. It was this dismissal that put the Indian bowlers on top and initiated the Pakistani collapse.
India’s Kuldeep Yadav celebrates the wicket of Pakistan’s Iftikhar Ahmed on Saturday. Pic/AFP
Wrist spinner Kuldeep also spoke of how he shrewdly worked his way to trapping Saud Shakeel (six) leg-before. “I was watching Saud in the last couple of games and he had been trying to use the sweep shot a lot. He thought that particular ball was slow, but it skidded on,” said Kuldeep, who also clean bowled Iftikar Ahmed (four).
Bumrah shines again
Appreciating the Indian bowling line-up would obviously be incomplete without mentioning pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who clean bowled the dangerous Mohammad Rizwan when he was one run short of a half-century.
“Whenever Jassi bhai [Bumrah] bowls from the other end, I watch him closely from fine-leg or third man and get information about what line and length is effective on the wicket. So he always makes it easy for us,” said Siraj.
The Pakistan camp meanwhile, were understandably disappointed with their poor show. Team Director Mickey Arthur called it a timid performance. “We were a bit timid tonight. I would have liked us to really take the game on just a bit more, probably take on the Indian spinners a bit more. We set ourselves up as a 330 team. That was our message. It’s a massive occasion, we know, but we just went into our shells to go from 155 for two to 190-odd all out, but credit to India. They bowled really well. We’ve had success by taking it deep and then cashing in at the back end, that’s been our style, that’s been our brand, but we just didn’t play the Pakistan way tonight,” he explained.
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