14 days ago, Pakistan endured a nightmare when Australia’s David Warner and Mitchell Marsh tore their bowling apart at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, putting on 259 runs for the first wicket.
Like that day, Babar Azam won the toss and opted to bowl first again on Saturday as if to say that he and his men needed punishment for committing the same mistake again. They were made to time travel into the past on Saturday by Australia’s trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand and the in-form pair of Rachin Ravindra and comeback man Kane Williamson.
The more you see Ravindra bat, the more he impresses you. Everything about his batting is pleasing to the eye and it was on show again against Pakistan as he drove, pulled, flicked and even played an upper cut to drive the New Zealand innings forward.
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In the modern-day game where agricultural shots are almost mandatory to be part of a batter’s armoury, the 23-year-old is a young turk from a different era. His basics are in place and he has the ability to play strokes all over the ground.
At the start of his innings, Rachin showed his prowess off the front foot, and later on he showed he had a sound backfoot game as well, pulling Haris Rauf and Hasan Ali for a six and a four in the space of three overs.
10 years ago, when Sachin Tendulkar retired from international cricket at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the sound of “Sachin! Sachin!” reverberated everywhere in the stadium. A decade later, the sizeable crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium showed that there was a chant that could rhyme the legendary words by going “Rachin! Rachin!” to every boundary from his blade.
He eventually got to his century off 89 balls and the crowd rose to their feet to applaud a genuine superstar in the making. In trying to up the ante further, Ravindra fell for 108 off 94 balls. There was disappointment on his face, but the complete opposite from the crowd who gave him generous praise for his innings.
New Zealand vs Pakistan Live Score, World Cup 2023
At the other end, the tale was completely different. Williamson had not played since October 13 and in the succeeding 20 days, had seen the Kiwis slip from the top of the table to fourth, facing a must-win situation.
Walking in to bat in the 11th over, Williamson’s comeback began unconvincingly. But on a placid surface and the sting in the bowling disappearing quickly, he got into his elements and complemented Ravindra to ensure New Zealand’s innings never lost momentum.
Among the top four batters of this generation – Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steve Smith and Williamson- the Kiwi has consistently shown he is arguably the best player of spin and that side to his game was in full flow against Pakistan as he daringly opted to go inside out, against the spin, to counter the off breaks bowled by Salman Agha and Iftikhar Ahmed and was rewarded with a six and a four.
This was the Williamson the world was craving to see at this tournament. He got to his fifty in 49 balls and then upped his pace, going after the pace of Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf to make Babar Azam sweat further in the Bengaluru sun.
A hundred in his comeback game would have been a dream return, but in trying to keep up with the pace of the innings he fell for 95 off 79 balls.
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Ravindra and Williamson had put on 180 runs in 140 balls. If the Warner-Marsh partnership was all brute power, the Ravindra-Williamson stand was controlled aggression. When the latter fell in the 35th over of the innings, Pakistan had relief written all over their faces, but they knew that they had been made to suffer a past nightmare yet again.
Brief scores: New Zealand 401-6 in 50 overs (Ravindra 108, Williamson 95; Wasim Jr. 3-60) vs Pakistan.
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