The rule of the game was pretty simple. You have to play foot-volleyball, and all players touching the ball and conceding the point has to run a small sprint and join back the game. It’s the usual warm-up routine for Pakistan team but a rather enjoyable session for the players. On Wednesday, a day before the India game Fakhar Zaman did maximum bursts up to the fence and back, and so did his batch mates grudgingly; because his footwork for this game was just not up to it.
Get the pads on and give the bat in hand, Fakhar Zaman hasn’t set a step wrong in the last one year, his footwork has been precise against the white kookaburra and averages 72 in the 19 innings he’s played so far. In this Pakistan team, which is now completely shorn of icons, the legend of Fakhar Zaman has travelled deep into the Indian fan zone, especially since his hundred in the Champions Trophy final last year.
Jasprit Bumrah wouldn’t forget him either. The Bumrah-Fakhar no-ball story is now part of folklore — when Zaman was dismissed for 3, only to get a reprieve and slam 114 off 106 balls — and added a chapter to some classic India-Pakistan rivalries. Bumrah copped maximum flak and some impolite endorsements from the traffic police for crossing the line. Bumrah didn’t appreciate it but learnt to move on, and become the world no.1 bowler in this format. Sample this, Bumrah since Champions Trophy has played 21 games with 38 wickets, at an astonishing average of 19.81 and an economy of just 4.42. He’s also made a great transition to red-ball cricket and is now a constant there as well.
Bumrah spent the Hong Kong game putting his feet up and watching debutant Khaleel Ahmed in action but Bumrah remains India’s best bet, with the new ball as well as old, and even more so in the reality of a rusty Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the impunity with which the Hong Kong batsmen treated the Indian spinners.
India-Pakistan game is now, well and truly, a re-match between Fakhar Zaman and Bumrah, and Team India will be hoping that there’s no repeat of last time. Not in terms of the incident, and certainly not in terms of the result.
Fakhar has also had a similar growth path like Bumrah since the Champions Trophy. In 15 games, Zaman has an individual double hundred in ODIs and 837 runs against his name and his form has been instrumental in Pakistan having a decent run since then. Skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed acknowledges Zaman’s effort with the bat. “He is improving a lot. He has scored crucial runs for us in the recent months and has given a good platform for the middle order to fire. I am sure that he will also do well here. Champions Trophy is now thing of the past and now history. It was memorable and players will savour that win in their minds. We have seen that players who perform well against India, have become heroes, so that’s an extra motivation,” he says. Nobody will agree more than Zaman.
Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, realizes he has his task cut out. With the schedule of back to back games, with limited bowling resources and a wobbly middle-order. “Every opposition is different and you've to plan accordingly. Yes, you're playing at the same venue. The pitches will change, the opposition will change so your strategy has to change. You can't go with the same strategy and mindset as you go with Hong Kong, with Pakistan. You have to change your team dynamics, the way you play, the strategy, bowling changes, batting orders etc,” he says.
The standby Indian skipper was more worried about Indian batting and the vacant slots but will wake up to Pakistan game with nightmares about the gaping holes in the bowling department. Bumrah can stitch a lot, especially when he knows what his brief is. Bumrah spent the only practice session in Dubai hitting yorkers on a single wicket. Every time he would run in a few yards and hit those cones on the popping crease, he would simply look back at his bowling crease. Just in case.
If India has to cross the line against Pakistan, Bumrah has to ensure he stays within the line and bowls line to line. Traditionally, India versus Pakistan is about India’s batting against Pakistan’s bowling. This time, it’s an Indian bowler against a Pakistan batsman, which will decide the outcome of the game.