Has cricket taken over America in the way the ICC and its stakeholders hoped it would? Not at all, but for most of Sunday in southeastern New York, one of the biggest sporting events in the world was cheered vociferously by 34,028 cricket fans packed into the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium inside Eisenhower Park on Long Island.
From the early hours of the morning, fans decked out in blue and green made their way from near and far to the temporary cricket stadium in the village of Westbury and made it a carnival like none seen by residents or police authorities.
Rain delayed the toss and the start of the match, but as the clouds parted and the sun was allowed to at first peek out, and then shine brightly, the cricket took over. Underneath grey cloud cover initially and then sunny skies, India’s batsmen failed to find the desired momentum required on a tacky surface. Twice a Pakistan pace bowler was on a hat-trick. There was some terrific catching and fielding from Pakistan as India were put under the pump on an undercooked drop-in pitch. Three wickets each to Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf, backed by some excellent fielding, saw Pakistan keep India to 119 in 19 overs.
But the final word was had by India, led admirably by their jewel in the crown, Jasprit Bumrah, who pocketed his second Player-of-the-Match award in a row this World Cup. Bumrah’s four overs produced figures of 3/14 as he took out Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed. Hardik Pandya made his presence felt with 2/24 and Axar Patel trapped Usman Khan lbw to make a total of 119 look like 150.
Thus, India joined USA on four points from Group A while Babar’s team stares at elimination before the Super 8s round.
India’s batsmen had two problems to contend with: the tough surface and a sluggish outfield, with the deep square boundaries adding to the frustration. After Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma fell early, Axar was sent in to bat at in the third over and made 20 off 18 balls, hitting one of the two sixes the team managed. Ravindra Jadeja went for a golden duck when he plodded forward and spooned a catch to short mid-off. Pandya laboured eight balls for one run, edged a four past the diving fielder at third man, and then was superbly taken by a running Iftikhar Ahmed at deep backward square leg when he middled a flick shot.
On this surface, you needed to innovate and only one Indian batsman managed to do that, Rishabh Pant. His maverick approached fetched him 42 off 31 deliveries, with six fours, before one ambitious shot too many saw Pant out at 96/6 in the 15th ball. The shambolic way the Indian innings ended at 119 after 19 overs underlined how confused and frustrated those who ventured to the crease were.
But still, a target of 120 proved too much for a shaky Pakistan. Their batsmen never really threatened and the target, at one time nearing a run-a-ball, soon escaped them. This was down to the brilliance of Bumrah, who was accurate and pacy and the one bowler who, whenever Rohit called on him, left Pakistan visibly shaken. Pandya was very good, Axar did the job in two overs and Pant was excellent behind the stumps as he held two running catches off mishits to short deliveries.
India won by six runs, sending their legion of fans out of Eisenhower Park in near delirium.
