Heartbeats, Some Tears & Single Malt - my summary of the epic clash between Team India and Pakistan in the T20 World Cup at the MCG!
❤️ beats are always better than 💔breaks. And Team India has had a few major ones; think of the Champions Trophy finals or the unceremonious exit from the last T20 WC. Each time, there was no dearth of talent. On the contrary, there was enough and more. So what went wrong? No, it's not the toss.
Mr.Virat Kohli. He was the one sole difference between two identical top-order collapses. This time, the questions his batting posed were out of the Pakistani syllabus. So is his mojo back? I've always maintained a good player can't become a bad player overnight. A bad patch can't suddenly become good overnight.
Many experts believed that after the century against Team Afghanistan, Mr.Kohli was back to his best. I didn't think so. To get back to the mojo levels of the 2016-2019 phase, he needed to deliver big in a big match. A few solid knocks back-to-back solid would work, but the breakthrough would be a marquee clash.
That is precisely what the Melbourne match did to Mr.Kohli - it gave him a new identity.
This new identity will go a long way to serve Team India. It comprises a mix of emotions, the first among which is acceptance of situations and positions and a release of past notions. This made way for thought clarity. A player of his caliber, class, and intelligence latched on to it hook, line and sinker. This is now emerging in his stroke play, hand-eye coordination, and choice of shots.
The penultimate punch off Rauf landed the ultimate impact - self-belief.
At that moment, a smooth, peaty eighteen-year-old single malt paused in my mouth, twirled around, and waited till the ball crossed over the fence. As the malt glazed my throat, my voice choked, and some tears trickled, rewatching that shot in slow motion. Nostalgia kicked in to mark the occasion. It reminded me of Mr. Tendulkar's upper cut over the fence against Mr.Akhtar or Mr.Prasad, bowling Mr. Sohail as the stumps rattled a generation.
So what next?
Win the World cup. Team India won a remarkable "league" match. Good. As the adrenalin levels return to normalcy, Team India will need to fix the top-order collapse story and help Mr.Kohli play a big inning without pressure. Big matches often yield big chokes. So now, Team India needs to win big in the remaining matches and not assume an automatic qualification to the Semi-final.
A passing thought on Team Pakistan. It is not the same team they were in 2015. They are a bunch of young talented players waiting to explode on the big stage. Given that their predecessors carried the tag of being mercurial, they need to break free from those inconsistencies.
However, with Mr.Azam and co at the helm, a lot has changed, and the days of one-sided matches with Team India are nearly over. Kudos to them for putting up a great show. Now, they need to find their mojo in the remaining matches. The loss against Zimbabwe won't help, but when cornered, there's only one place to go - ahead, just like they managed in the 1992 ODI WC.
On the other hand, Team India will ride on Mr.Kohli's new identity on Sunday against South Africa, and as Mr.Conklin said to Mr.Bourne: this is not a drill soldier!
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Get your single malt and tune into the slow-burn podcast- The Aayanman Experience, a simple but detailed analysis of the lessons learned from Team India's T20 match.
#Cricket, #T20WC , #IndvPak
We discuss the following:
Indian bowling
Pakistan Batting
Pakistan Bowling
Indian Batting
Arshdeep - what matters is the size of the fight in the dog.
Virat Kohli - pure single malt innings.
The Victory - some tears.
The Loss - worthy competitors.
The Aayanman Experience is a slow-burn podcast, and keeping it that way was tough after watching the match.
However, I aim to keep the content clean, true, honest to heart, and non-rhetorical flavor with no other misdirection distractions.
So sit back, relax and tune in for this amazing experience.
#Cricket, #T20WC , #IndvPak
