An agonising green meltdown in a cold and damp USA Premium

Pakistan's heartbreaking defeat to India in the T20 World Cup exposes leadership vacuum and selection controversies.

After smashing two successive fours off Arshdeep Singh, Naseem Shah put his head down and dejectedly, reluctantly completed a single, off the last ball of the contest. As he looked up, the tears streaming down his cheeks were visible. A familiar, unwelcome foe – cold, cruel defeat – had wrapped him in its embrace; it was all just too much for Pakistan’s express fast bowler.

The setting was the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, but it might well have been SuperSport Park in Centurion or Old Trafford in Manchester, the MCG in Melbourne or the Wanderers in Johannesburg, venues where Pakistan has tilted at Indian windmills in cricket World Cups – of the 50- and 20-over varieties – and come off second best.

India holds a perfect 8-0 record in the 50-over format, while last fortnight’s six-run heist in New York was its seventh win in eight face-offs in T20 World Cups. Pakistan’s sole victory, by a commanding ten wickets in Dubai in October 2021, is an aberration, no matter how comprehensive it might be, no matter that it catalysed the end of the management era of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri in a depressing morass of doom and gloom.

The New York loss was especially galling for multifarious reasons. Pakistan’s target was 120, numerically miniscule but worth several more on a treacherous surface. It was still well within reach of a good batting line-up against an inarguably fantastic bowling attack led expertly by Jasprit Bumrah. No matter the conditions, top teams would expect, and be expected, to get the job done even against other top teams eight times out of ten, if not more. This was one that got away, India’s stranglehold that took it home helped along by tameness, timidity and lameness, traits one doesn’t always associate with Pakistan cricket.

What made the defeat even more depressing, if that was possible, was the tournament context. It was Pakistan’s second consecutive loss and, even with two matches still to play, the Men in Green’s future was no longer in their own hands. How could it be, when they had allowed their nerves to get the better of them and been schooled by novices United States in their opening fixture?

As far as upsets go, this must rank as among the most famous in sporting history. A team of part-timers, as an American with no more than passing interest in cricket put it, felling the former champions. David coming swinging and connecting with hefty punches to send Goliath sprawling. A software engineer coding the impossible, a local talent honed overseas shaking up the established order. It was unforgettable drama staged in the theatre that is the T20 landscape on the greatest stage there is in the cricket world. How could it not exhilarate? How could it not sting?

The two Super Overs showcased the best and worst of 20-over cricket. Each was sent down by a left-arm seamer. In the green corner was Mohammad Amir, a former teenage prodigy whose career path took an unexpectedly dark turn owing to indiscretions that were only partially excused because of his influential age at the time of his infractions. In the red, blue and white corner was Saurabh Netravalkar, an international when also in his teens, but at the junior level. At an age when Amir was counting the damage of his spot-fixing follies, Netravalkar was playing for India’s Under-19 side, including under KL Rahul at the World Cup in New Zealand in 2010. After a solitary Ranji Trophy appearance for Mumbai, Netravalkar realised that cricketing ambition might not be matched by commensurate climbs up the ladder, so he made the move west in search of greener professional pastures. Until destiny, and the US, gave him what India couldn’t – an international cap.