Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had faced Pakistan for the first time in their careers during an ICC event. Saturday's game could be their last against the same opponent in an ICC event
AHMEDABAD: Snipers wielding automatic guns give you that cold, deathly stare as you pass by a famous five-star hotel in Ahmedabad by the river front. It's where the Pakistan team are residing for their highly anticipated World Cup clash against India on Saturday.
It's a team that two of India's and the world's greatest modern white-ball players, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli first played against in a senior men's global event, in South Africa. Rohit in the 2007 T20 World Cup and Kohli in the 2009 Champions Trophy.
While Rohit's beginning was more auspicious, starring in a T20 World Cup winning campaign, hitting the last ball for a six in the final in India's innings (how crucial was it as they won by five runs) while scoring 30 not out off 16 balls at Johannesburg, Kohli's was more soul breaking.
While chasing a gettable 303 on a road in Centurion, with India well placed at 126 for 2 in 22 overs, he lofted Shahid Afridi to Umar Gul at long off and was dismissed for 16. It triggered an Indian collapse as the team lost by 54 runs.
Kohli used that as a lesson in hunting down scores and became one of the most efficient chasers in white-ball cricket. Against Pakistan, he averages 154.5 in three World Cup contests, with a sublime 107 at Adelaide in 2015 being his crowning glory. In the Champions Trophy, he averages 62 in four games. In T20 World Cups, he has been a nuisance for the Men In Green, scoring 308 runs in five games at an average of 308.
Rohit has had mixed results. After a heartbreaking loss in the 2006 Under-19 World Cup final in Colombo to Sarfraz Ahmed-led Pakistan Under-19, where the young team could not handle Anwar Ali's hooping inswingers, the Indian skipper's 140 in Manchester in the 2019 edition set up India's march towards a 7-0 win-loss margin in 50-over World Cups. His Champions Trophy average is less impressive, making just one 91 in three games, which includes a famous duck in the 2017 final vs Mohd Amir.
His returns in the T20 World Cup aren't great either, as his average of 17 in six games suggests.
But as his numbers over the last year show, Rohit has been keener to take risks in the powerplay, to allow batters like Kohli to bat at their pace, in a format that the India No.3 almost owns. It's an acknowledgement by the skipper himself that the modern white ball game has no scope for accumulators. It's the England template after all.
Conversely, the renewed solidity of Kohli 2.0, post the pandemic-induced slump, and post the mental health break, has allowed Rohit to be more adventurous.
1/10:ODI World Cup: Pakistan's all-loss record against India
AP
2/10:India vs Pakistan
<p>India have defeated Pakistan seven times out of seven at the ODI World Cup since they first met in Sydney in 1992. </p>PTI
3/10:1992 World Cup
<p>At Sydney, a low-scoring affair which was remembered more for Javed Miandad jumping up and down in a bizarre attempt to mimic wicketkeeper Kiran More. </p>Getty Images
4/10:Sachin Tendulkar
<p>Sachin Tendulkar hit an unbeaten 54 as Pakistan failed to chase a modest 217-run total, losing by 43 runs. </p>Getty Images
5/10:1996 World Cup
<p>Pakistan lost again by 39 runs in Bangalore in 1996 and the defeat resulted in a furious reaction back home -- skipper Wasim Akram was even alleged to have feigned injury. </p>Getty Images
6/10:1999 World Cup
<p>At the 1999 World Cup, Wasim and his team were subjected to a match-fixing inquiry after they lost by 47 runs to India and slumped to a shock loss to Bangladesh. </p>Getty Images
7/10:2003 World Cup
<p>Pakistan lost their 2003 World Cup encounter by six wickets as they were outdone by Sachin Tendulkar's brilliance in the chase at Centurion. </p>Getty Images
8/10:2011 World Cup
<p>A high-profile semi-final also went to India by 29 runs in Mohali in 2011. </p>AFP
9/10:2015 World Cup
<p>A packed house in Adelaide saw Virat Kohli's century subdue Pakistan by 76 runs in the 2015 World Cup. </p>Getty Images
10/10:2019 World Cup
<p>Pakistan once again fell short in 2019, in Manchester, as they lost by 83 runs in a rain-hit game after a Rohit Sharma hundred. </p>Getty ImagesThere were unconfirmed reports of a rift between the two amidst a power struggle over white-ball captaincy. While they may or may not be true, it does appear now that the two elder statesmen have forged new bonds as was witnessed in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.
Rohit kept going to Virat for suggestions over field placing and bowling changes, often allowing his former captain to make the moves.
Kohli's sweaty and passionate hug to his skipper when Rohit sharply pouched Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka off Ravindra Jadeja in a low scoring thriller on a turner in Colombo in the Asia Cup Super-Four clash also said a lot. The devil of indifference that one occasionally saw in him after unceremoniously being axed as ODI skipper had suddenly been anaesthetized.
1/10:ODI World Cup: India vs Pakistan key battles
PTI
2/10:India vs Pakistan
<p>Arch-rivals India and Pakistan meet in a blockbuster clash at the World Cup in Ahmedabad on Saturday. </p>AP
3/10:Key battles
<p>A look at four key battles that could decide the eagerly-awaited contest at the world's biggest cricket stadium. </p>IANS
4/10:Rohit Sharma vs Shaheen Afridi
<p>India skipper Rohit Sharma has struggled against Shaheen Shah Afridi's left-arm pace in the few outings the two teams have had in recent times. </p>Getty Images
5/10:Shaheen Shah Afridi
<p>Shaheen rattled Rohit's off stump in their first Asia Cup match in Pallekele last month when the opener's lack of footwork saw him bowled for 11. </p>Getty Images
6/10:Virat Kohli vs Haris Rauf
<p>The stakes were high when Virat Kohli came up against Haris Rauf in a challenging chase at the T20 World Cup in Melbourne last year. </p>Getty Images
7/10:King Kohli
<p>India needed 31 off the last 18 balls while chasing 160 when Kohli held his nerve to smash Rauf for two sixes to bring the house down at a packed MCG. </p>Getty Images
8/10:Babar Azam vs India pacers
<p>Pakistan captain Babar Azam took on the Indian attack with ease as he and Mohammad Rizwan steered the team to a 10-wicket victory at the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai. </p>Getty Images
9/10:Jasprit Bumrah
<p>But two years later, Jasprit Bumrah and company learnt their lessons when they bowled out Pakistan for 128 in a crushing 228-run win in an Asia Cup Super Four clash. </p>ANI
10/10:Iftikhar Ahmed vs Kuldeep Yadav
<p>Iftikhar Ahmed can play anchor or go after the bowling with equal ease but at the Asia Cup last month, Kuldeep Yadav cut short the batsman's knock, taking a smart catch off his own bowling. </p>ANIThe swearing, roaring champion was back.
As Pakistan await at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday, India will need Kohli's roar and runs and Rohit's adventure one more time. Both were castled by Shaheen Shah Afridi in Pallekele in the league stage of the Asia Cup. In the Super Four clash of the same event at the Premadasa, India hit back, Rohit and Gill and then Kohli and KL Rahul, aggressively tackled the talented left-arm seamer.
Round Three, Ahmedabad promises a lot. Whatever happens should be cherished. Rohit is 36, Kohli will be 35 next month and it is very likely that the two Indian superstars may not square up against the Green Shirts in an ICC event again.
