ICC U19 WC | IND vs PAK Takeaways - Kartik Tyagi’s glorious tryst with destiny and Pakistan’s toss blunder

02/04/2020

India comprehensively beat Pakistan in the first semi-final of the ICC U-19 World Cup at the Senwes Park, on Tuesday, to book a berth in the final. But if U-19 cricket is more about exposure than win-loss, we will remember this game for witnessing some of the brightest talents from both countries.

Kartik Tyagi - Remember the Name and the Game

Move over Jasprit Bumrah. Here I have found my new love. Kartik Tyagi made me dream, made me go wow at the top of the lungs and then numb for a few minutes that I could barely write a word. That ball to dismiss Irfan Khan, with the ball pitching close to the crease, then sliding slowly as it drew the batsman forward. Before you knew anything about it, the woodwork had been disturbed. A classic yorker, a gentle smile and some normal celebration. Nothing over the top. Am I seeing a young U-19 cricket for real and not a legend of the sport? It was a day of varied emotion ever since that ball was bowled with the line blurred and things being bright for the future.

The fact that he is not a one-trick pony sends shivers down the spine of the opposition each time he goes back to his bowling mark to bowl the next delivery. He has pace, swings the ball both ways and the inswinger to the right-hander is just a thing of beauty. The moment his third delivery of the day went straight into Haider Ali after pitching wide outside off-stump - almost full length - we probably didn’t know what was in the store for us. Across the innings, bowling at various points in the game, Tyagi ensured that he was the man for all occasions. I was critical of him when he messed up with his lengths against Japan and New Zealand, but boy, what two games this young lad's just had! For sure, I became a huge fan from today and I just can’t wait to see more of the youngster in the coming future.

Pakistan win the toss and elect to lose

When Pakistan skipper Rohail Nazir won the toss, there must have been a joyous smile on the faces of several Pakistan fans, who’d have expected their team to bowl first. However, to everyone’s surprise, Nazir won the toss and instead opted to bat, a decision which raised a few eyebrows. Of course, batting first and putting runs on the board in a big semi-final is a pretty common notion, but given how the tournament had fared up until that point, it made all but no sense for Pakistan to bat. For starters, the team had batted just once in the entirety of the tournament - versus Zimbabwe in their second match - and throughout the tournament, looked like a team that was organized for chasing down totals. On top of this, four of the last five games at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom were won by the team chasing, so on the outset, the decision to chase looked like one that was down to catch India by surprise more than playing to their own strengths.

Eventually, on a flat wicket that literally stayed the same for all 78 overs in the game, Pakistan paid the price for their blunder at the toss, as they slumped to a ten-wicket loss. Their batsmen were often caught in to minds - either going too hard or too soft - which resulted in their undoing, and their haphazard structuring meant that anyone and everyone who walked in to bat was clueless about their role in the team. On a pitch that did not offer turn for the spinners or pace and bounce for the speedsters, Pakistan, after winning the toss, were bowled out for 172. Oh what would Rohail Nazir give to turn back time and change his decision of opting to bat first.

Yashasvi Jaiswal is more special than you think he is

Yashasvi Jaiswal entered the semi-final contest with an average north of 100, yet you felt that he had *THAT* one knock missing. It might have taken 5 matches and 25 days for him to make his mark, but today in Potchefstroom, the 18-year-old left an imprint that would not just remain in the minds of every cricketing fan for weeks to come, but also remind them why he is the biggest prospect in Indian cricket, everytime they look at it. We’ve witnessed many a swashbuckling inning from Jaiswal - in both the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the ongoing U19 WC - but today’s knock was unlike any other. It was special, for it not only showcased how good a batsman he is, but also gave us a glimpse of his cricketing brain which, in this Indian team and perhaps amongst all teenagers in the world, is second to none.

Chasing 173, at no stage did Jaiswal panic. When the chase began, he took a step back and played second-fiddle to his partner Diyaansh Saxena, and at one point was batting on 15 (36), whilst Saxena raced off to 24. He took his time, measured the bowlers and in fact, until the 13th over, scored just a solitary boundary. Even when the spinners came on, he did not panic and interestingly, chose the tactic of boring the bowlers to death. But when the time beckoned, when he realized that the bowlers were tiring, he switched gears. He was one run (39*) behind his partner Saxena (40*) when the 20th over ended, but by the time the chase had ended, he’d raced to a ton, scoring 46 more runs than his partner. He flicked the switch at the right and time and more often than not, hurt the bowlers on the very first ball of the over, to wrestle the initiative even before the contest began. That he scored 105* was in itself incredible, but how he got there made it all the more special.

Pakistan trapped in their own inadequacies

If Pakistan didn’t know the kind of dominance of this bunch of Indian kids, then probably they were sleeping in some far corner of the world, watching some sitcom of the 1980s, and were forcibly taken to the ground to play against India because they had to. Because the quality of cricket that was dished out at the Senwes Park, it was hard to believe that they were anywhere close to giving India a run for their money. Rather, they put up an abject, clueless, and damning indictment of developmental cricket. For example, with the run rate going down with each over, skipper Rohail Nazir, who has played two U-19 World Cups and many ACC Emerging events in the past, batted with a strike rate of 60.78 while others weren’t even bothered about the entity.

Priyam Garg shuffled his bowlers smartly in the middle overs and he could do that because Pakistan gave him a chance to do it. By not losing a wicket post the first powerplay until the 26th over, Pakistan would have hoped to stay in the game, but inadequate steadiness left them playing catch-up. The inability to understand how to rotate the strike and how to take a bowler off the attack with a bit of attacking head meant the big-hitters were sitting in the dug-out more than they should have been on the field, leaving them playing a major share of their game with a nothing approach. Ijaz Ahmed, the former sturdy Pakistan No.3, seemed less involved in the game, unlike his Indian counterpart Paras Mhambrey, and with each passage of the game, the gulf between the two sides became as clear as daylight.