pakistan: India v Pakistan: If the rain Gods permit, India could get a cracker of a Diwali gift

No India-Pakistan build up in recent memory has been as much dominated by the weather as this one. Manchester during the 2019 World Cup had also witnessed a rain threat but this one is different. With rains lashing Melbourne all night on Friday till about 11:00am on Saturday, everyone has the same question — is there any positive update on the weather?

On the plus side, some weather forecasters have predicted that chances of rain have reduced over the last day or so and in the time frame between 7:00-10:00pm on Sunday, Melbourne could have a dry spell. Drainage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is said to be good and that gives the game a lifeline.

Whatever happens ultimately, planning will have to take into account the rain threat. And that’s what brings an extra fast bowler into the equation for both the teams.

While India have limited options in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, Pakistan have the luxury of playing three quicks who all bowl at 150 kmph. That could make this a contest between the Indian top order and the Pakistan bowling attack in trying batting conditions.

Captain Rohit Sharma is aware of the challenge. During the team’s nets session, in two long batting stints, he didn’t play a single pull shot. All he did was try and play in the ‘V’, clearly getting himself ready to face the incoming deliveries from Shaheen Shah Afridi, which were his undoing in the last year’s T20 World Cup.

Pakistan, on the other hand, had a black slate placed just ahead of good length for Mohammad Rizwan. The slate was continuously watered to get the ball to skid. Needless to say, it was to prepare for Mohammed Shami, a plan hatched by the two Australians in the Pakistan support staff, Mathew Hayden and Shaun Tait.

Against the backdrop of a war of words between the Indian and Pakistani cricket boards over the former’s Asia Cup participation, the stakes ahead of this all-important encounter have gone up.

There is an undercurrent of hostility, however much the players try to underplay it. It is not just another game much as both captains want us to believe it is. India versus Pakistan is never just another game and more so in the backdrop of what is going on between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

In an interview a few months earlier, Rohit Sharma had harped on the point that he wanted his team to be ready for every situation. “We need to be ready for a situation where we are 10 for 2 or 10 for 3. In such a situation we shouldn’t panic. In the last three ICC competitions, we lost early wickets and that’s where the match was lost. We need to ensure it’s not repeated a fourth time.”

Trying to attack the Pakistan opening bowlers will be fraught with risk and India could lose some early wickets in the powerplay. Are India ready for such a situation? Can Surya, perhaps the best T20 batter in the world at the moment, play the role of India’s go-to man in a high-stakes encounter? His record against Pakistan isn’t great and this is an opportunity which can change everything. A match-winning effort from Surya could take his stock higher and establish him as one of the greats of white-ball cricket.

It was Hardik Pandya’s inability to bowl that had upset India’s balance in the T20 World Cup last year. It had caused a lot of heartburn between Hardik and the selectors. It took a lot out of him to be able to stage a spectacular comeback. He loves the big stage and it was evident during the IPL. Can he do it for India a n d make a difference in front of a packed MCG? That could well be the Diwali gift a billion-plus Indians are waiting for at home, if the rain gods permit.