T-20 World Cup 2022: Bang-bang cricket

Gautam Ganguly

(gautamganguly2012@gmail.com)

A midst ongoing acrimonious accusation and counter-accusation by office-bearers of the Indian and Pakistan cricket boards over the issue of Indian cricket team's refusal to play in Pakistan, curtains for another edition of exciting, high voltage 'bang-bang' cricket will rise on 23rd October at Melbourne, befittingly between India and Pakistan, the mother of all encounters.

The captivating interest for this game can be comprehended from the fact that that all tickets have been sold out long back. Recapitulating the history of India-Pakistan matches, it is about time to send a gentle reminder to the casual followers of the game of cricket that Team India has won against Pakistan consistently in almost all the encounters both in the ICC 50-overs World Cup and T-20 World Cup from as far back as 1992. Let us not forget the fact that although Pakistan had won the 1992 ICC World Cup annihilating a number of oppositions, but the bitter truth remains that they had failed to beat Team India even then.

However, India's magnificent track record of winning against arch rivals got battered in 2021 in the T-20 World Cup. Virat Kohli was the captain then. Prior to this humiliating defeat, India had beaten Pakistan in all T-20 matches played at different venues across the world. Indian cricket lovers fondly remember the nail-biting final of inaugural T-20 World Cup, 2007 played by the two giants at Johannesburg, South Africa. Dhoni, the Indian captain's decision to hand over the ball to the lesser-known Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over had raised lot of eyebrows. Then, when Misbah-ul had hit the towering six taking Pakistan to within handshaking distance of victory, the entire country was practically lambasting MSD for having trusted Joginder to bowl the crucial over. The rest, they say, is history when the much-vaunted Misbah-ul was foxed and India won the heart-stopping match. From then on, it was a rollercoaster ride for India in ICC T-20 World Cups, beating Pakistan hollow in all venues in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

A casual look at the ICC World Cups testifies that the performance of the Indian team under a none-too-impressive captain, Mohd Azharuddin, was far below expectation during the 1992 tournament. But, they had delivered their best against Pakistan. That was the only feather in the Indian cap in that disastrous tournament for the Indians.

The victory achieved at Bangalore in the 1996 version of the World Cup is best remembered for Ajay Jadeja's swashbuckling innings and Venkatesh Prasad's superb bowling.

India had next met Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup tournament held in England. The low-scoring match had showcased the zeal and passion of a young team India comprising of Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, which annihilated Pakistan fair and square.

Sheer grit, determination and zeal to win against Pakistan were displayed prominently by Team India in the 2003 World Cup. The Pakistan team had set 274 runs to win. Tendulakar went with Sehwag to open the innings. The manner in which he started the onslaught and counter-attacked the fiery Pakistan bowling attack spearheaded by Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar was at once magnificent and breath-taking, enabling India to overtake the Pakistan score comprehensibly.

The encounter at Mohali in 2011 saw India defeating Pakistan hands down and proving its supremacy to become World champions eventually.

The 2015 World Cup saw team India's thumping victory galvanized by the superlative batting of Kohli, Rahane, Raina and Dhawan that helped India reach 300 runs, setting a tough target. It was an easy task, thereafter for the bowlers to wind up the Pakistan innings.

The most aggressive batting display in T-20 World Cup came from Yuvraj Singh in 2007. India was in a slightly precarious situation when Yuvi went to bat. And what a blitzkrieg!! Six consecutive sixes were hit off Stuart Broad's bowling, much to the disbelief of England team and connoisseurs. Yuvi followed up his golden form in the semi-final against Australia, mercilessly destroying the bowers to score 70 runs off 30 balls!!

In the 2016 T-20 World Cup semi-final, India's challenging score of 192 was massacred and plundered by a pumped-up West Indian team. A rampaging Lendel Simmons scored 82 runs off just 52 balls. The icing on the cake came from Andre Russel who scored 42 runs in just 20 balls leading to their victory. The otherwise sporting, fun-loving Kolkata crowd was stunned into silence by the bang-bang, aggressive batting of the West Indies team.

It needs no reiteration that the encounters between England & Australia and India & Pakistan are considered to be the most gruelling cricket matches, both physically and emotionally, that ignite heights of patriotic fervour and passion not only among the players but also among the supporters. With Pant, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma at their flamboyant best, connoisseurs will definitely hope that the Indian team will win against Pakistan and then go on to lift the coveted trophy.

Time alone will tell if Team India will beat Pakistan in the ensuing match by proving that Pakistan's victory in the T-20 World Cup 2021 was a flash in the pan and a fluke.