THE hype and hoopla that preceded the match would have made it seem that we were in for a needle finish on Sunday when India and Pakistan squared up in the World Cup. What we got instead was a lop-sided contest.

This may have delighted jingoists (in India) or riled them (in Pakistan), but would have left genuine lovers of cricket on either side of the divide disappointed. A marquee match like this one deserved better.

Moreover, considering the ease of victory, the Indians will have to guard against lulling themselves into believing they’ve retained the title.

Of course, it is hardly India’s fault that Pakistan barely measured up. Remember, M.S. Dhoni and his players were perhaps under greater pressure carrying the burden of expectations of 125 million people as well as the need to defend the title they won in 2011.

Considering this, it was a sterling performance. Interestingly, all those players who had looked to be in iffy form before the tournament got underway — Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and the bowlers — came good, suggesting that they had primed themselves well for this crucial contest.

Perhaps even more importantly, Dhoni’s captaincy was aggressive and imaginative which choked any sort of fightback by Pakistan in the run chase. In the recent past, he has been criticised for not being fully engaged with what’s happening on the field, but on Sunday he was on the money, as it were, giving pace and slow bowlers attacking fields, always looking to take wickets.

Kohli, the team’s best batsman, showed he is one for the big occasion by shrugging off a sequence of low scores to score his 22nd ODI century. It boggles the mind just far he can go. On Sunday, it was enough that he stymied Pakistan’s chances of getting early wickets through controlled counter-attack.

One can argue that Kohli slowed down just a bit approaching his century, which in the context of the match is nitpicking. He is now the fulcrum of the Indian batting assigned the task of batting through till the end while the other stroke-makers around him have the license to play more freely.

Raina did this with flair and just at the right time, giving the innings enough impetus to ensure that the score would reach 300. This was a psychologically important number after Dhoni had unusually chosen to bat first after winning the toss.

The plot was to pile on enough runs to make the Pakistan dressing room restive, which is how their response panned out. There seemed to be no game-plan in place for the run chase. Instead, what one saw was a period of pointless defensiveness followed by panic.

Having said that, Pakistan didn’t have the wherewithal — in terms of talent, temperament and tactics — to win this game. Obviously the absence of key players like Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul and Hafeez has hurt the team badly. On the evidence of Sunday’s match we saw a mediocre team play very badly.

The bowling lacked sting, the fielding was atrocious, the batting thoughtless: marked not just by reckless strokes but also appalling running between the wickets. Only a hapless Misbah-ul-Haq showed the gumption to wage battle.

I will desist from writing a requiem for Pakistan because this game can make even the best-argued prognostications go haywire. In 1992, as we know, Pakistan come back from the brink of ouster to win the title. With only one match played as yet, recovery is possible.

But that would require something truly extraordinary from a team that lacks depth in all departments of the game. The only way I can describe Pakistan’s position with any degree of optimism is through a Churchillian axiom: the situation is hopeless but not serious.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2015

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