AS thick dark clouds hovered over the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and Pakistan’s World Cup fate here, things switched back and forth from raining sixes and literal downpour.

Fakhar Zaman’s thunderbolt blows were pelting down on the near-capacity crowd — most of it clad in India blue — showering their love on the flamboyant Pakistan southpaw, roaring to each strike and dancing to tunes from across the border.

Who doesn’t like an entertainer? There aren’t many like Fakhar in his groove, that he had found in Kolkata days ago.

On Saturday night, Bengaluru was Fakhar’s hunting ground — his aide the rain — and the prey were New Zealand, who looked like monsters to start with.

Driven by Rachin Ravindra’s ton, Kane Williamson’s 95 and blistering cameos by the lower-order batters, the Black Caps had a nail ready to be hammered into Pakistan’s World Cup pursuit.

But nature, and Fakhar, had their plans.

The opener would go onto smash 11 sixes in his unbeaten knock of 126 balls off just 81 balls, while rain interruptions kept Pakistan safe from the prospect of chasing a mammoth target of 402 runs as they eventually registered a 21-run victory on DLS method.

The result kept alive Pakistan’s slim World Cup hopes. Placed fifth in the standings, now Pakistan must beat England in their last league match, and that too by a margin big enough to surpass New Zealand if they win against Sri Lanka.

With the scoreboard pressure hitting the roof and predictions of rain high, Pakistan’s batting required both method and madness.

After losing opening partner Abdullah Shafique early, Fakhar, along with captain Babar Azam executed the method to perfection on both ends of a rain delay that occurred in the 22nd over.

At that point Pakistan were cruising at 160-1 — with Fakhar having raced to a century off just 63 balls — and were ahead by 10 runs according to DLS calculations.

After play resumed — Pakistan’s target was revised to 342 in 41 overs — only three more overs were bowled, during which Babar reached what turned out to be a crucial half-century off 52 balls.

The Pakistan skipper was involved in an unbeaten 194-run partnership with Fakhar, which came off just 141 balls.

While sending to and receiving messages from the dressing room — pages with DLS calculations mentioned on them for the batters to plan their approach — Fakhar was absolutely belligerent.

His first six was a cross batted stroke against none other than New Zealand’s express pacer Trent Boult, not the only lusty hit against the left-armer on the day.

To sum up Boult’s day, it would be enough to say he conceded 17 runs in only his third over — which also featured a pull shot for four by Babar.

Fakhar belted Boult for another six like that later, while Babar too cleared the boundary with a pull off Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin.

Pakistan had 75-1 on the board by the end of the powerplay, after Santner and veteran pacer Tim Southee had also come under Fakhar’s radar.

The Mardan-born batter was particularly hostile towards Glenn Phillips’ off-break, Fakhar’s nifty feet coming down the ground to plunder boundaries at will.

Fakhar went on to loft Southee over long off and get a six and a four off Santner to bring up his century before going into prostration, as the crowd went wild.

The spectators, who were majorly cheering for New Zealand, also chanted Babar’s name to the top of their voice as the Pakistan skipper launched leg-spinner Ish Sodhi for a long straight hit after the rain break.

In that very over, Fakhar bludgeoned Sodhi for two more maximums as it started to pour at the venue again.

It did not stop early enough for New Zea­land to be spared by divine intervention.

To be fair to Kane Williamson’s men, they couldn’t have done better than hitting 400 runs in a high-stakes World Cup encounter after being asked to bat first.

Ravindra, nothing less than a revelation in this edition, had smashed the Pakistan bowlers for 108 off 94 balls, featuring 15 fours and a six. His stand with Williamson was worth 180 runs off 142 balls.

Although Williamson agonisingly missed out on a hundred on comeback, high-voltage cameos by Mark Chapman, Phillips and Santner lifted New Zealand past what is considered to be an unbeatable 400-run mark.

Pakistan pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi, who registered a five-wicket haul against Australia here not long ago, went for 90 runs in his 10 overs. Hasan Ali conceded 82 while Haris Rauf leaked 85 runs.

Mohammad Wasim, in contrast to his pace fellows, was hit for only 60 runs and once again used reverse swing to get three wickets.

As the evening set in, it was clear why Pakistan went to bowl first and how the side being smacked for a huge pile of runs on a belter of a playing surface, wasn’t too bad of a performance.

SCOREBOARD

Pakistan v New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND:

D. Conway c Rizwan b Hasan 35

R. Ravindra c Saud b Wasim 108

K. Williamson c Fakhar b Iftikhar 95

D. Mitchell b Haris 29

M. Chapman b Wasim 39

G. Phillips b Wasim 41

M. Santner not out 26

T. Latham not out 2

EXTRAS (LB-8, NB-1, W-17) 26

TOTAL (for six wickets, 50 overs) 401

Did not bat: I. Sodhi, T. Southee, T. Boult

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-68 (Conway), 2-248 (Williamson), 3-261 (Ravindra), 4-318 (Mitchell), 5-345 (Chapman), 6-388 (Phillips)

BOWLING: Shaheen 10-0-90-0 (5w); Hasan 10-0-82-1 (1nb, 2w); Iftikhar 8-0-55-1; Haris 10-0-85-1 (2w); Wasim 10-0-60-3 (3w); Salman 2-0-21-0 (1w)

PAKISTAN:

Abdullah Shafique c Williamson b Southee 4

Fakhar Zaman not out 126

Babar Azam not out 66

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-3) 4

TOTAL (for one wicket, 25.3 overs) 200

DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim, Haris Rauf

FALL OF WICKET: 1-6 (Abdullah)

BOWLING: Boult 6-0-50-0 (2w); Southee 5-0-27-1; Santner 5-0-35-0; Phillips 5-1-42-0; Sodhi 4-0-44-0 (1w); Mitchell 0.3-0-1-0

RESULT: Pakistan won by 21 runs on DLS method.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Fakhar Zaman

Australia v England

AUSTRALIA:

T. Head c Root b Woakes 11

D. Warner c Willey b Woakes 15

S. Smith c Ali b Rashid 44

M. Labuschagne lbw Wood 71

J. Inglis c Ali b Rashid 3

C. Green b Willey 47

M. Stoinis c Bairstow b Livingstone 35

P. Cummins c Malan b Wood 10

M. Starc c Ali b Woakes 10

A. Zampa c Buttler b Woakes 29

J. Hazlewood not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-6, W-4) 10

TOTAL (all out, 49.3 overs) 286

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11 (Head), 2-38 (Warner), 3-113 (Smith), 4-117 (Inglis), 5-178 (Labuschagne), 6-223 (Green), 7-241 (Stoinis), 8-247 (Cummins), 9-285 (Zampa)

BOWLING: Willey 10-1-48-1 (1w), Woakes 9.3-0-54-4, Wood 10-0-70-2 (3w), Livingstone 6-0-42-1, Ali 4-0-28-0, Rashid 10-0-38-2

ENGLAND:

J. Bairstow c Inglis b Starc 0

D. Malan c Head b Cummins 50

J. Root c Inglis b Starc 13

B. Stokes c Stoinis b Zampa 64

J. Buttler c Green b Zampa 1

M. Ali c Warner b Zampa 42

L. Livingstone c (Sub) b Cummins 2

C. Woakes c Labuschagne b Stoinis 32

D. Willey c Zampa b Hazlewood 15

A. Rashid c Inglis b Hazlewood 20

M. Wood not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-6, W-8) 14

TOTAL (all out, 48.1 overs) 253

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Bairstow), 2-19 (Root), 3-103 (Malan), 4-106 (Buttler), 5-169 (Stokes), 6-174 (Livingstone), 7-186 (Ali), 8-216 (Willey), 9-253 (Woakes)

BOWLING: Starc 10-0-66-2 (4w), Hazlewood 9.1-1-49-2 (2w), Cummins 10-1-49-2, Zampa 10-0-21-3 (2w), Head 5-0-28-0, Stoinis 4-0-34-1

RESULT: Australia won by 33 runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Adam Zampa

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2023