Last Updated on 4 years ago by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: 4 talking points from the classic India vs Pakistan | IND vs PAK 4 talking points from a classic at the MCG

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) certainly witnessed one of the best games in the history of cricket. When it was looking like Pakistan would comfortably win their second successive World Cup match over their arch-rivals, India made a sensational comeback in the last few overs to register a win that will be remembered for ages.

Momentum ebbed and flowed in a memorable game in front of a record crowd of 90,293 fans. However, in the end it was India who had the last laugh in this classic game. With this victory, the Men in Blue kicked off their T20 World Cup campaign in sensational fashion, outplaying arch-rivals Pakistan in a closely contested game that lived up to the immense hype it had created in the last few months.

Keeping aside the excitement of the game, let’s focus on the four talking points of the game between India and Pakistan.

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India vs Pakistan classic: 4 key talking points

The match-winning partnership

Team India had a horrible start to their run chase as the side lost four wickets for a mere 31 runs by the seventh over. Following the early collapse, Kohli and Pandya joined forces and forged an astounding 113-run partnership for the fifth wicket and anchored the run chase.

At first, Pandya was the main aggressor in that 78-ball partnership. Later in the slog overs, it was Kohli who took on the bowlers to steer India on the verge of a monumental win.

Kohli stole the show as he top-scored for India and remained unbeaten with his exemplary knock of 82 off just 53 with the help of six fours and four sixes. The first six off the penultimate over against Haris Rauf was a shot for the ages, and further evidence that class is permanent.

Shaheen’s wicketless spell

Prior to the start of the game, there was a lot of buzz regarding the battle between Pakistan’s spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi and the Indian batters. Making his return to international cricket following an injury layoff, Afridi finished the all-important game with figures of 4-0-34-0.

What was striking was that Shaheen didn’t quite look at his very best. The speedster bowled in the powerplay and clocked speeds in the low and mid-130s, with the left-armer clearly working his way back to full match fitness.

Although he played a handy cameo of 16 off eight balls, Shaheen wasn’t able to impact the match in a way he can. Even at the death, he failed to contain the runs and bag wickets. The Men in Green expected Shaheen to turn up and produce a match-winning spell but it didn’t happen and thus Pakistan went into the final two overs still at risk of defeat. It turned out to be the case.

Arshdeep’s sensational new ball burst

Arshdeep Singh set the tone for his team with a memorable spell in his first-ever T20 World Cup appearance. Making the most of the movement on offer at the MCG, Arshdeep bowled a match-defining spell. It was the first delivery to Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam, where Arshdeep nailed a perfect inswinger that darted back enough to force the Pakistan opener to play across the line. Babar’s opening partner- Mohammad Rizwan (4), who mostly played and missed, was dismissed when Arshdeep bowled a well-directed short ball, and Bhuvneshwar at fine-leg boundary took the easiest of catches.

Arshdeep then finished with excellent figures of 3/32 off his 4 overs to give India a healthy chance of exacting revenge for their defeat in the last edition of the World Cup against Pakistan. If the left-armer can continue bowling in that manner, India will be tough to beat.

The Final Over Drama

How often do you see a spinner bowling the last over of an innings in T20 cricket? Not often.

This was the second occasion in the same year against the same opposition where Mohammad Nawaz bowled the final over of the game. However, he shouldn’t have bowled that final over. There was a miscalculation on skipper Babar Azam’s end. Whether he did that intentionally or not it stays with Babar.

Nawaz went for 29 runs in his first three overs, which forced Babar’s hand in removing him from the attack against Kohli and Hardik. Bringing back his premier fast bowlers at that point was a sensible decision, but that cannot defend Babar’s decision to hold Nawaz back so late. The Pakistan skipper had the option of bowling Iftikhar Ahmed inside 10 overs when both Kohli and Pandya were new to the crease to sneak an over in to allow his seamers to finish the game.

In the end, it wasn’t meant to be in an all-time epic.