Pakistan’s opening batsmen, Iman-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman failed to give Pakistan the required start despite being in a good touch against their crucial fixture against India in Dubai on Wednesday before Pakistan ended up losing the match by eight wickets.
Both the batters became Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s victims before Captain Sarfraz Ahmed chose to play a wrong shot too.
Soon after a great googly from Kuldeep Yadav ended Babar Azam’s calculated knock of 47 off 62 balls, Pakistan were again desperate of a partnership. With skipper at the crease, that should have been his responsibility to deliver a captain’s knock.
However, Sarfraz couldn’t resist cutting a full ball from Kedar Jhadav. While Sarfraz suggested Manish Pandey took an absolute stunner at wide long on, but Pakistan Coach Mickey Arthur opposed the very idea of that shot.
Between the 23rd and 40th over, Jadhav bowled nine on the trot and destabilized Pakistan’s batting effort by dismantling their middle-order. A flighted full ball lured Sarfraz Ahmed into a mistake, after which Asif Ali and Shadab Khan fell prey to his darts full and outside the off stump. It was also a spell that had 34 dot balls, crippling Pakistan further through the middle-overs in the process.
Even as he finished the game with his best ODI figures, a robot-like dedication to not digress from his stump-to-stump brief in the lure of populating his wickets tally is still very evident. No wonder then, his immediate reaction to his first-ever three-wicket haul was: “My role in the team is to contain batsmen and in that process if I get a wicket, it’s fine.”
In the press conference a few hours later, he elaborated further and even let the media in on a training ‘secret’. “My bowling is all about trying to read the batsman, My plan is to bowl stump to stump, if you score, it’s fine but if you miss, wickets are there for me.”
“Honestly, I bowl one or two overs before the match at training. I don’t bowl much at the nets. I feel if I try and become a bowler, I will lose whatever I have. So I stay within limits (laughs).”
This moment of joy has come to Jadhav after a six-month period of pain and extreme frustration. Following an injury in the IPL, he had to spend time on the sidelines when India toured England. It spoke volumes of his utility that immediately after he regained full fitness through a rigorous period, he found himself in the squad and drafted straight into the playing XI.
Score card : PAK 162 (43.1 Ovs) ; IND 164/2 (29.0 Ovs)
India won by 8 wkts
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Bhuvneshwar Kumar
