Pakistan opt to bowl first against India

Pant gone

The only batter who looked like he had an answer against Pakistan is now gone. Lovely innings though, 42 off 31, and strangely, he was more effective playing his unorthodox shots than the orthodox ones. Mohammed Amir is finally on the board, deservedly so and he celebrates it with a second wicket. Jadeja gone for a first ball duck. Brilliant to left-handers. He was getting them to play and miss earlier or edge and beat the fielders. Now he’s having catches being taken. India 96 for 7. Amir on a hat-trick. He was retired in 2020. He’s been sensational since 2009

Eight singles, six dots and two wickets since the last boundary for India in the 11th over. Dube’s gone for 3 off 9, undone once more by a ball holding in the pitch and bouncing more than he was ready for. Naseem Shah now has three wickets to his name. A premier spin-hitter in the IPL, Dube was stuck against Imad Wasim with the left-armer benefiting from the low bounce here. Also there was his naturally quick pace through the air. Dube just couldn’t under the ball. For the wicket, to the quick, he ended up too far under the ball

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SKY gone

Mohammad Amir who has had catches being dropped off his bowling all day takes one for his mate.

India’s biggest weapon in T20 cricket is gone and Babar knows it. He rushes into the celebrations screaming his head off. It felt like SKY wanted to hit straight but the Rauf ball had so much pace behind it that it might have skewed the bat face open a little more than he was intending to.

This game has been see-saw from the get go. Pakistan took early wickets. Pant countered. Now Pakistan are back taking wickets. How will India respond? Well with Shivam Dube having to face the extreme pace of Haris Rauf.

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Pant’s innings

4times in his first 14 balls that Rishabh Pant could’ve been out caught. All four were extremely difficult chances. One of them soared over the slips but I’m including that here because it wasn’t where Pant intended for the ball to go. He’s playing a high-risk innings but at the end of nine overs he has 21 off 18. He’s got more runs off balls he’s not been in control of (14) than those he’s middled.

The first two of that hat-trick of boundaries were jaw-dropping. A slower ball smashed over extra cover with utter impunity. That prompts the bowler to shift his line of attack, going round the wicket. But turns out that’s no way to bowl to Pant. Because it helps him access the leg side. He’s so inventive accessing that leg side.

Essentially he gives up the thing that batters like to have at the crease – balance – in order to play these shots. This fall-over flick shot to fine leg. He does it because the ball is good length, but by falling over, he is able to get under it, and also by falling over, he gets rid of one of the obstacles in the way of that shot – his own body.

57runs that India scored between overs 5 and 10. But ESPNcricinfo data suggests they were only in control of half of those balls (53% control). T20 in a nutshell. Doesn’t matter if you’re middling it, so long

as the runs come, and they come quickly.

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The SKY factor

Spin hasn’t really threatened on this pitch as much as pace in the previous matches, but Pakistan went to Iftikhar Ahmed because there were two left-handers out there. That over ended with Axar Patel, who has been on the rise as a batter, charging down the track and smashing the bowler over his head. India have pushed him up the order so that the X-factor batter in their line-up would be able to walk out at a time where he can just focus on playing those jaw-dropping shots that he plays without any risk of putting his team in trouble. Suryakumar Yadav is the ace that India have up their sleeve.

Two tough catches dropped

Rishabh Pant realises this is the last over of the powerplay so he goes after Mohammed Amir. The first extravagant shot is reasonable because the ball had plenty of width. So much that he eventually makes contact with the very bottom of his flashing blade. Iftikhar Ahmed at first slip leaps up to his left but he can’t grab it. The second mis-hit was nowhere near on. It’s actually a wonderful piece of deception from the bowler, shifting his line closer to the stumps to make the movement he’s getting away from the bat even more dangerous. It causes the left-hander to hit against the swing and that in turn results in a leading edge. Usman Khan running back from point, tracking the skier, reaches out with both hands but to no avail.

The over costs 12 runs but almost all of them came off false shots.

Tight battle

Shaheen Afridi celebrates with his team-mates after sending Rohit Sharma back•AFP/Getty Images

The ball is swinging. Mohammad Amir beat Axar Patel’s outside edge three times in three balls. It’s also keeping low off a good length and not coming on. Doubt is about the only thing in a batter’s mind in conditions like this. And it takes strength for them to ignore that. Maybe a bit of blind faith too. Maybe it’ll get easier in a few overs, when the ball loses a bit of its shine. This is a tight, tense battle, with Pakistan taking the early lead. All that said, it looks like the best pitch in NY so far. 140-150 possible. 160 might be winning.