ICC World Cup 2019: Babar Azam, who scored his 10th ODI hundred, became the first middle-order batsman from Pakistan to score a World Cup century in 32 years. (Reuters)There came a moment in the chase when Babar Azam played a shot that convinced you that the game was done. Mitchell Santner was ripping it a lot, the ball breaking away sharply and pretty rapidly for a pitch that was supposedly slow. Time and again, Mohammad Hafeez was beaten. Anyone would be. Then came the Azam touch. There was a slip in place and the ball spun away from him, but he let his hands and the malleable wrists follow his instinct. The hands glided away, the bat-face turned, and he steered the ball almost with the bat-face turned around, behind square, and the ball winked past the slip fielder, who must have been astonished by the elegance, the skill, the touch. New Zealand had recovered from 46 for 4 to 237 but Azam and Haris Sohail ensured Pakistan were well and truly back in the tournament.
Sarfaraz Ahmed has faced all sorts of abuses ever since the loss against India but he silenced everyone with a fabulous diving catch to snap up Ross Taylor. Off he flew to his right with an outstretched hand, triggering 1992 nostalgia again when Moin Khan dived in front for first slip to take a blinder.
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New Zealand misread the pitch, going in with just one spinner that forced Kane Williamson to roll in some offspin for eight overs but even with the arsenal they had, this wasn’t an easy chase. That there was a chase at all was due to a splendid 121-run partnership in little over 20 overs between Jimmy Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme.
It resuscitated New Zealand who were almost knocked out in the first round by Shaheen Afridi’s triple strike. Even though they lost the game, New Zealand can take great heart from that Neesham-Grandhomme stand: it means they aren’t just Williamson-Taylor outfit, it means they can not only expect Neesham or Grandhomme to help a Kane or Ross to win a game (as they did against South Africa) but they can also trust them to lift them from near-dead situations on their own.
But this was a day that Pakistan would remember more fondly – the 1992 memes are alive, back then it was Inzamam-ul-Haq, now its Haris Sohail who has lifted the whole team with his refreshing approach. With the ‘Professor” Mohammad Hafeez in fine fettle, though he is yet to convert a start into something really big, and the openers looking solid, Pakistan are now in a really good position in the tournament. Especially, if Shaheen Afridi can provide such blast with the new ball, the only area that was lacking thus far.
The chase will be remembered for how Pakistan converted what looked like a weakness into a strength. The old-fashioned approach of starting slow, consolidating, keeping wickets, and then outmanoeuvring the opposition. It takes great skill and in Azam, they have found a batsman for the ages.
He flicks and punches, he cuts and runs down the track, he drives and lofts – and he has a solid defensive technique. Together first with Hafeez, he slowly settled down the nerves if any in the camp and with Sohail, he provided an exhilarating finish. New Zealand had their chances, one came in the 22nd over when Santner got one to turn and jump. It chipped off the outer edge off Azam but Tom Latham, the wicketkeeper, couldn’t hold on to it. Azam was on 38 then, and the game was still in the balance – not after that, though.
When one walked into the stadium, there was this indescribable confidence among Pakistan’s fans. And their journalists. As if this game was already done. “We will win this and Afghanistan, it’s Bangladesh we are worried about a bit. Only they can stop us. Not New Zealand.” And within 30 minutes of play, the first half of their prediction had almost come true. The next stop is Afghanistan before we come to why they are a bit worried about Bangladesh. If that’s their worry, their wish is for an India-Pakistan final.
