IND VS PAK : The Pakistan batting line-up suffered a collapse of epic proportions – like only they can – as they went down from 155/2 to 191 all-out against India in their World Cup 2023 group-stage encounter.
The match was in balance when Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were in the middle with their partnership of 82 runs. At 28 overs, with Pakistan’s score being 150/2, they would have thought that they had the platform to launch an attack in the second half of their innings, as they often do with the likes of Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, and Saud Shakeel to follow.
However, what struck them next would have felt not more painful for their fans and unexpected for themselves than the asteroid that hit Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs, rendering them extinct about 65 million years ago in one hit.
Mohammed Siraj cleaned up Babar Azam with a brilliant delivery. Even more outstanding balls came from Jasprit Bumrah to clean bowl Rizwan and Shadab Khan. Iftikhar Ahmed was unlucky to under-glove a leg-side delivery from Kuldeep onto his leg-stump, while Kuldeep used his trickery to get Shakeel lbw. Pandya and Jadeja cleaned up the rest as Pakistan lost their last 8 wickets in only 36 runs.
IND vs PAK: Twitter went wild with hilarious memes on Pakistan’s collapse:
Kuldeep Yadav said: “I have been enjoying the World Cup. I knew where to bowl on this pitch. Difficult wicket to bowl on to be honest, it’s on the slower side. They (Pakistan) were not trying too much, so kept it wicket to wicket varying my pace. First seven overs we didn’t give too much width, they were not trying to do much. Rizwan didn’t sweep me, I was hoping to make him play a bad shot. I have been watching him (Shakeel) sweep a lot or the paddle, so I was trying to keep it wicket to wicket. Luckily I got him. Unbelievable (to play in front of a large crowd). Very excited before this game, the atmosphere was crazy. Just enjoyed bowling.”
