Notes From the World Cup: Pakistan Bring The Vibes

Chaos high, runs low

The word vibe is a bit of a guilty pleasure. I hear it often, use it too, but can’t always get myself to slip it into written work. It tastes like instant food, which it is, of course, but something from the clearance section of the aisle. While retaining all the snap and, funnily enough, vibe that the denotation points to, it somehow seems to lose a bit of gravity. Kramer from Seinfeld would use vibe in his Christmas letters but John Steinbeck wouldn’t touch that word with a stick.

For most of this World Cup, Pakistan have sometimes played a brand of cricket that makes you want to turn the television off. The energy — see, a better, more civilised term — has been low enough to come across as completely missing. Their batting has been so dull and dire, their bowling so lifeless, that their ODI record in the last four-year World Cup cycle seems like an illusion. More worryingly, they look like a tacky impersonation of the organised unit we were getting used to watching.

Pakistan entered the Asia Cup in September as the highest-ranked ODI team in the world and possessors of the most menacing fast-bowling artillery. Nobody was bowling quicker and with more bite than Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf. Their batting order, forever an afterthought to their bowling, had Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan, and Imam ul-Haq. They were so good they didn’t seem to have space for a talent like Abdullah Shafique. In their early league game against India, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah had the much-vaunted Indian batting order pushing and prodding at deliveries, often late and missing the line. 15-1 turned into 27-2, which was soon 66-4. At that point, Pakistan were in everyone’s list of semi-finalists at the World Cup later in the year. Conversations kicked off about the hilarious prospect of them winning the title, right in the heart of Modi Stadium in Modi’s India.

By the time the second India vs Pakistan match at the Asia Cup finished — it was a tournament designed around the Coke Studio Derby — something had snapped. Well, something besides Naseem Shah’s shoulder. That injury would eventually rule the 20-year-old jet out of the World Cup. Any team would miss a bowler of his calibre, but Pakistan managed to lose all balance in their bowling attack. Without his partner, Shaheen Shah Afridi was a different bowler. He was asked to execute the dual job of control and aggression, which is like taking a hammer to a painting competition. Barring a game or two, he has had a forgettable World Cup. Haris Rauf has, well, not checked in. With one league game left, Mohammed Wasim is their only fast bowler who has delivered to potential. Their batting has been middling too. Neither Babar nor Rizwan have scored big despite getting the odd start, and Imam now finds himself on the bench.

At the mid-innings point of their game against South Africa, their sixth of the tournament, it looked like Pakistan were beginning to check out. On a decent surface, they couldn’t accelerate well enough to set an imposing total. South Africa, batting like they have a personal vendetta against record-keepers in cricket, looked good to sort this out without breaking a sweat. Quinton de Kock plundered 19 runs off Shaheen’s first over. Chasing a meagre 270, South Africa were 30 up within 2 overs. Pakistan were done.

Five minutes later, Quinton, probably late for his dinner plans, tried to hit Shaheen’s short ball into the stratosphere and ended up placing it neatly into the boundary rider’s hand. A gift from the heavens on a ball that deserved to fetch a minimum of six runs.

Quinton leaves a gift. Source: Outlook

Something snapped again. For the rest of the evening, in the face of Aiden Markram’s masterclass and a brief period where David Miller looked like he was going to finish off the target in boundaries alone, Pakistan clung on. Every time the game threatened to slip out of their hands, they found a wicket, sometimes earned, sometimes gifted.

As the game drew close, Pakistan had found their mojo, their chaos, their vibe. Shaheen, Haris Rauf, and Mohammed Wasim were finally showing fangs. From 35 runs and five wickets, the equation was suddenly 11 runs and one wicket.

Pakistan somehow managed to lose that game, absolutely annihilated a hapless Bangladesh, and entered yesterday’s game against New Zealand needing to not just win but usurp their net run-rate. Babar Azam won the toss, looked at the pristine conditions in Chinnaswamy, its short boundaries and the cold air of Bangalore, and decided to, wait let me check my notes, bowl. If, by this time, you are screaming into your screen, you need to know you’re not alone. New Zealand scored 401. Pack up?

Not even close. Fakhar Zaman unleashed an attack on the New Zealand bowlers that made the target of 402 feel pedestrian. He hit 11 sixes in 81 balls, often making the ground look too small for his ambitions. Those tearing their hair apart at the toss were now on the edge of their seats, crouched, egging Fakhar to hit Ish Sodhi for one more six into the Chinnaswamy terraces. The dark Bangalore clouds opened up once, then opened up again, and Pakistan won. They were 21 runs ahead of the adjusted target at the point of stoppage. The scorecard will say victory through the Duckworth Lewis Stern system because it doesn’t have the provision to say pure, unadulterated, vibes.

This is the Pakistan that the World Cup had been missing. A team that has the propensity to be thrilling in victory and defeat. It channels the spirit of the old Pakistan team that was everybody’s guilty pleasure but nobody’s explicit favourite. The same team that needed rain delays to reach the semi-final of the very World Cup they ended up winning; the same that had Wasim, Shoaib, Saqlain, Anwar, and Inzamam, comfortably amongst the best ODI teams in the world in 1999, but lost to Bangladesh, couldn’t chase 227 against India, walked out in the World Cup final at Lord’s as favourites to win, and got bowled out for 120.

Pakistan’s last league game is against England, the defending champions who currently look like they’ve never played the game. It might help Pakistan’s cause to cut through them clinically, but I hope there is some trapeze-artistry in the process. It doesn’t suit their aesthetic to be orderly, efficient, or even abject. The frame feels incomplete without a shade of electricity.

Instant food doesn't always have to stay hidden in the aisle. Have you ever had instant noodles after a long, tiring day? Or at the top of a trek? It hits like cocaine. A cold glass of processed orange juice can sometimes cure all the worries of life. And for all the French press grounding in the world, instant coffee is a worthy substitute. When bought from the right manufacturer, it can have every bit of taste and caffeine kick that one craves. It doesn’t even take an Olympic sport worth of effort to make the damn beverage first thing in the morning.

Sometimes, it is worth getting lost in the buoyancy of the vibe. Watch Seinfeld back and tell me, which of the four lead characters was having the best time?