Key events
19th over: Pakistan 77-2 ( Saud 19, Rizwan 12) The wind plucks at the sun umbrellas, as Harshit replaces the excellent Hardik (6-0-18-1), but the parsimonious bowling continues. Pakistan at the moment too fearful to run twos or go for the big shot. Some more strike rotation needed urgently.
18th over: Pakistan 74-2 ( Saud 17, Rizwan 11) Axar’s tall figure strides past umpire Reiffel – as we watch the 73rd dot ball of the innings. Saud sweeps handsomely, but just for a single. India are 11 minutes behind the clock.
17th over: Pakistan 72-2 ( Saud 16, Rizwan 10) The dog, who smells of stagnant water, joins me on the sofa while my son does some press-ups in his pyjamas. This game continues to meander along. More excellent tight bowling by Hardik.
16th over: Pakistan 70-2 ( Saud 15 Rizwan 9) Shackles released! Saud paddle sweeps Axar up and over the keeper for four. Three singles follow.
The crowd? They’re, apparently, still queueing to get in.
15th over: Pakistan 63-2 ( Saud 9 Rizwan 8) Hardik rearranges his field with an agitated wave of the arms. Called into action earlier than he might have been when Shami went off, he’s been economy personified. Stand-in captain Shubman Gill being helped by his immaculate bowlers and Pakistan reticence. Just two singles from the over -there have now been 32 balls since the last boundary. Just two twos run by Pakistan so far today.
14th over: Pakistan 61-2 ( Saud 8, Rizwan 7) Shami is in the zone now, speed around 138mph, seam immaculate. Two singles from the over – the run rate now down to just over four an over, as they take DRINKS.
13th over: Pakistan 59-2 ( Saud 7, Rizwan 6) Just one single from Hardik’s over, a back foot drive from Saud Shakeel. Pakistan in rebuilding mode, but need to keep the runs ticking over. A pensive Babar, who has changed into his training kit, sits bare foot on the balcony.
Shami returns – but Rohit is off the field
12th over: Pakistan 55-2 ( Saud 6, Rizwan 5) Shami returns, calf twinge seemingly sorted.
11th over: Pakistan 58-2 ( Saud 6, Rizwan 6) Three risk-free singles. And it seems Rohit is off the pitch – Shubman Gill taking over the captaincy. A good scattering of lime green shirts in the crowd.
10th over: Pakistan 52-2 ( Saud 3, Rizwan 4) Enter Rizwan, with his patch kit. He immediately sweeps Kuldeep for four.
WICKET! Imam-ul-Haq run out (Axar) 10 (Pakistan 47-2)
Oh dear. Imam hits the ball straight to Axar at mid-on and sets off for a single that might have been on had there been a bean bag fielding at mid on. Unfortunately for the diving Iman, it was Axar Patel, who has time to eye up the stumps before throwing them down.
9th over: Pakistan 47-0 ( Imam ul Haq 10, Saud 2) Babar eyes up Hardik’s first ball, which is slow and full and eans into a cover drive for the ages. But Hardik strikes back immediately, celebrating with the talking hand. Saud Shakeel’s first ball is deflected down past Rahul – given as four leg byes.
WICKET! Babar c Rahul b Hardik 23 (Pakistan 41-1)
Hardik drags one back and Babar tries to send it shimmying through the covers again, but can only edge it to Rahul. Five fours in that 23 of increasing assurance – but Pakistan needed him to go on.
8th over: Pakistan 37-0 ( Imam ul Haq 10, Babar Azam 19) Time for Axar Patel, all long levers and huge shades. He twirls the ball from giant hand to giant hand – replays from th game against Bangladesh show him challenging both edges of the bat. But here goes Babar, dancing, and lofting him over mid-off for four.
7th over: Pakistan 31-0 ( Imam ul Haq 9, Babar Azam 14) Hardik replaces Shami, the five-wicket hero against Bangladesh, and who remains off the field. He’s as slim as a bamboo, diamond earrings in each lobe. Babar glances over his shoulders, and then drives an offering outside off stump through the covers for four.
6th over: Pakistan 26-0 ( Imam ul Haq 9, Babar Azam 10) Imam is turned inside out by Harshit again and again, feet rooted to the crease. Frustrated, he flies at the fourth ball but misses, flies again at the sixth but can only get an inside edge. Just one run – a wide – from the over.
Shami hobbles off
5th over: Pakistan 25-0 ( Imam ul Haq 9, Babar Azam 10) Imam is tempted, nibbling at Shami as the ball shimmies past the outside edge. Another beauty from Shami has the slips applauding – but here is the physio, massaging Shami’s right calf. He finishes the over but leaves the field, which could be huge news.
We see a clip from the players walking onto the pitch at the start of the match, Virat gives Babar an affectionate pat on the back. Good to see.
4th over: Pakistan 22-0 ( Imam ul Haq 6, Babar Azam 10) Come on Babar don’t get marooned – and here he goes, whipping Harshit for four from outside off stump, and then a glorious stride and drive through the covers for four more. It took Pakistan ten overs to get to 22 against New Zealand – here they make it after four.
3rd over: Pakistan 14-0 ( Imam ul Haq 6, Babar Azam 2) Shami again, and this time with more control. Imam, glasses gleaming under his helmet, plays and misses at the darting ball but collects a handful of runs either side of the cricket.
2nd over: Pakistan 10-0 ( Imam ul Haq 2, Babar Azam 2) Harshit Rana at the other end, practitioner of an excellent heavy ball. Pakistan take a quick single from his first – not entirely convincingly. Harshit joins in the wide party with one down the legside as the smell of brewing coffee wafts in from the kitchen. Babar picks up a wristy couple off his hips.
1st over: Pakistan 6-0 ( Imam ul Haq 1, Babar Azam 0) The pitch looks like rolled oatmeal. Mohammad Shami has the ball, twists and turns at the top of his mark, the first ball is on the money, the second is wide and well stopped by the diving Rahul. Another wide, and then a third, a fourth, a FIFTH – this is all very helpful for Pakistan who had a dismally slow start against New Zealand, with lots of domestic pressure piling on the slim shoulders of Babar.
The ground doesn’t look full – yet – but the dominant shirt colour is definitely blue.
The anthems
Go off without incident. Cute children in white T-shirts look absolutely thrilled to be mascots. India huddle, and Babar and Imam stroll out.
“Morning Tanya.” Good morning Krishnamoorthy v!
“This is cricket classico!
“I grew up in the 80s and the 90s to see Pakistan regularly beating India with the unplayable Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Waqar Younis and Abdul Qadir and batsmen who appeared to have been stuck to the pitch with an adhesive. Miandad , Abbbas, Raza.
“Then the tables turned and have stayed turned. These days it is considered an upset if Pakistan wins but the match is seen, sadly, as a war between the two countries thanks to irresponsible behavior and politicians being politicians on both sides. The death of India Pakistan clash seen simply as a cricket match shall remain my greatest disappointment in life.”
The commentators chew over the conditions. A slow pitch, those who have done well are those who rotate the strike. A good score? 250 a bare minimum.
“Is there space behind the sofa?” asks Michael White. Of course, though give me a couple of minutes warning for a quick hoover.
Indian XI
India: Rohit Sharma, (capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami
An unchanged side.
Pakistan XI
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (capt and wkt), Tayyab tahir, Salman Agha, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.
Imam-ul-Haq replaces Fakhar Zaman, who picked up an oblique injury against New Zealand.
Rizwan: It looks like a good surface. If you play an ICC event, every game is important. The boys are familiar with the conditions and we’ve done well in this ground as well. We lost the last game but it’s in the past for us. One change: Imam in for Fakhar.
Rohit: It’s not the same surface but looks similar to what we played on, in the last game. It could get slower. Great opportunity to come out and do what we do as a team. The way we played the last game…it wasn’t easy for us and we had to work our way. You want to test yourself and be under pressure. We’re playing the same team.
Pakistan win the toss and will bat
They wait for Ravi Shastri to finish his boxing-match exuberances. Rohit Sharma, all in royal blue, has his hand in his pocket; Mohammad Rizwan, in a lime green top, dark green trousers, tucks his hands behind his back. Rizwan calls heads – and heads it is!
A quick look back eight years to the 2017 Champions Trophy Final at The Oval, when Pakistan turned the tables upside down and beat India in the final, thanks to a fabulous century from Fakhar Zaman and a thrilling opening spell by Mohammad Amir.
The toss will be in about ten minutes, the day hot, hot, hot – 33 degrees at just after noon. The 1pm start means there won’t be any dew for the calling captains to consider.
Preamble
Hello! What better reason to roll out of bed on a Sunday morning than for India v Pakistan, cousin v cousin, grudge v gripe, cricket con passione.
We’re in Dubai today, due to the Indian government/BCCI’s refusal to play in Pakistan, and the match is a sell out. In fact it was a sell out within minutes of the tickets going public – expect a choppy sea of blue and green shirts, alongside the cacophony of noise,
The last time the two countries met in an ICC 50-over game was at Ahmedabad during the 2023 World Cup, India knocking off an easy win by seven wickets in the 31st over.
They’re huge favourites today too, and come into the game having beaten Bangaldesh on Thursday, thanks largely to a century from Shubman Gill and five wickets from Mohammad Shami. Pakistan, meanwhile, crashed and burned against New Zealand, losing by 60 runs, and face being knocked out early from the first ICC event they’ve hosted in 29 years.
But forget the stats deep-dive for now. This is Pakistan. This is Pakistan v India. Anything is possible.
Play starts at 9am GMT, and there’s plenty of space on the OBO sofa.
