“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” The famous Charles Dickens opening is all that embodies the recent clash between cricketing world’s two fiercest rivals. The ever-exciting Pakistan India contests witnessed their finest last Sunday and it was not for the faint-hearted, going down to the last ball.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) was buzzing with a house-full of over 90,000, wherein the blues outnumbered the greens by quite a margin, as India galloped towards victory over Pakistan in their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup opener: gifting their people the perfect Diwali present.

It was a Virat Kohli special that made the impossible possible for India. Despite Pakistan having India on its toes during the first half of their innings, it could do little against the beast that is Kohli. The white-ball chasing knight led his team to a four-wicket victory in what many now refer to as his best innings ever. Kohli smashed an unbeaten 53-ball 82 to ensure his side kicks off their World Cup journey by landing the number one spot in the group.

The chasing specialist is a known match-winner for India. Of the 18 times that he has been unbeaten in T20 International chases, India have always ended up on the winning side. King Kohli, as he’s famously known, has an unbelievable average of 270.50 in successful run chases in T20 World Cups. A title well-earned, indeed.

A look back at among the finest of ever-exciting Pakistan-India cricket contests that took place last Sunday at the T20 World Cup…

India enjoys an upper hand over Pakistan in the cricket World Cups. Of the seven times the two rivals have locked horns at the T20 global event, India have emerged victorious five times. With one tie in Durban in 2007, the only time Pakistan could beat their neighbours was last year in Dubai, as their star openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan registered a historic 10-wicket victory.

The historical contest, like in previous times, was between India’s batting and Pakistan’s bowling. While Kohli’s masterclass beheld a happy ending for India, it didn’t start off pleasantly. The top-order batter started off slowly, as India struggled in the powerplay, losing three crucial wickets. The 33-year-old was, at one point, even 15 off 23 balls when India’s required run rate was over 11.

In fact, until the 12th over, Pakistan was in complete control and the favourites to win. Team Green had restricted the opponents to just 41 runs in the first 10 overs at a loss of four wickets in a 160-run chase, leading India to require 119 in the final 10 to win — a feat that seemed unlikely at the time.

But, alas, “It’s not how you start that’s important, but how well you finish”, as author Jim George puts it. Pakistan’s domination in most of the game didn’t bear the fruit the team had hoped for. India won the battle of nerves in the end and won the game.

The defeat was, of course, soul-destroying for the bowling side. Ironic, isn’t it, for Pakistan to lose the fight in the death overs, given that having death-overs specialist bowlers is considered their strength this championship.

In what many credit as the best pace bowling attack of the tournament, it was surely surprising when Pakistan decided to play just three pacers. The lack of a sixth bower was the defining difference between the two sides. Hardik Pandya’s presence benefitted India with an extra bowling option in the seam-favouring conditions, as the all-rounder went on to dismantle the Pakistani middle-order.

The selection blunder was obvious, but it was not just the unavailability of the sixth bowler that concerned the cricket fraternity. Shaheen Afridi’s partial fitness also raised some worried eyebrows. ‘The Eagle’, as he’s known, who had made the famous “They cannot play him” headlines while tearing down the Indian top order in the T20 World Cup encounter last year, seemed pretty average on Sunday. The 22-year-old went for 34 runs and no wickets on his highly awaited yet disappointing comeback.

Another disheartening illustration of a hero-turned-zero was Mohammad Nawaz, whose 20-run over was when the momentum first started changing in Team Blue’s favour. The thumping forced Babar Azam to bring in his pacers earlier than he was expecting to, but the Pakistani skipper didn’t have the luxury of a sixth bowler, eventually leading him to go back to Nawaz to bowl the high-pressure final over.

Despite getting wickets of Pandya, Dinesh Karthik and bowling out an in-form Kohli on a free hit, Nawaz ended up bowling presumably the worst over of his career; giving away multiple extras and failing to defend the target. The same player won the Player of the Match award against the same opponent in the Asia Cup a month earlier.

This sport can really be brutal at times. As Shahid Afridi famously once said, “Cricket makes you laugh less and cry more.”

The last-ball thriller was not without controversy, however. After Kohli smashed a six over square leg on a high full toss, the player demanded it be called a no-ball for being above waist height. The umpires decided in his favour, which was not well received by Babar and company. While the decision stayed, it sparked a debate on broadcast and social media. Many argued that the decision should have been reviewed by the third umpire while the others believed the call was marginal but fair.

The next delivery led to more controversy as India was awarded three byes on a free-hit as Nawaz bowled Kohli out. Pakistani fans argued that, since the ball had hit the stumps, it was dead and no runs taken should have been counted. Former Australian cricketer, Brad Hogg, tweeted a similar concern, “Why was no ball not reviewed, then how can it not be a dead ball when Kohli was bowled on a free hit?”

The ICC’s playing conditions for free hit, clause 21.19.2 states, “For any free hit, the striker can be dismissed only under the circumstances that apply for a no ball, even if the delivery for the free hit is called wide.”

Simon Taufel, former member of ICC’s Elite Umpire Panel, shared the above-mentioned rule and wrote, “For a free hit, the striker cannot be out bowled and therefore the ball is NOT dead on hitting the stumps — the ball is still in play and all conditions under the Laws for Byes are satisfied.” While many experts including Taufel defended the umpire’s decision, there is no specific clause in the ICC Playing Conditions that addresses the matter precisely.

Things were bound to remain heated on digital platforms as the contest created a new viewership record across the border. Over 1.8 crore viewers tuned into the match on the digital streaming platform, Disney + Hotstar, beating the previous record of 1.4 crore, recorded between the two rivals at the Asia Cup, the Times of India reported.

While the MCG witnessed cricket’s greatest rivalry in a nail-biting thriller, it is just the beginning. The two sides stand a chance of meeting again in the tournament, if they make it to the final. Well, it’s a long shot and a little too soon to predict, but it sure would be a final worth breaking more records over.

The writer is a sports journalist and a Fulbright scholar.

She tweets @Brashnaa

Published in Dawn, EOS, October 30th, 2022