Pakistan’s pace bowlers were in blistering form against India in the marquee Asia Cup clash today (September 2), but Babar Azam opted to give only one of them (Shaheen Shah Afridi) their full allocation of overs – so what happened?

Shaheen and Haris Rauf decimated India early on their innings, with wickets falling in between rain interventions. Rauf bowled Shubman Gill for a 32-ball ten, while Shaheen saw the back of Rohit with a scorching delivery that saw Virat Kohli react in horror before walking out. Kohli himself was also bowled by Shaheen, while Rauf dismissed Shreyas Iyer to leave India 66-4. In amongst all of this, Naseem Shah conceded just 13 runs from his three-over opening spell.

It was only after the quicks were taken off and Shadab Khan was introduced that the pressure somewhat relented on India. Shadab’s second over – the one following Gill’s dismissal – went for 11 runs thanks to a pair of fours from Ishan Kishan. With the introduction of Mohammad Nawaz and later Agha Salman, Hardik Pandya and Kishan were able to build a partnership. That stand took India past the 200 mark, and while they still ended their innings well short of a total they would have wanted, Pakistan’s grip on the game was loosened from their opening burst.

All in all, Pakistan’s three spinners bowled 21 overs between them and conceded 133 runs, an economy rate of 6.3. Naseem, Afridi and Rauf had a collective economy-rate of 4.6, with another two overs left for them to bowl.

It’s important to factor in that India did not bat for their full allocation of fifty overs. They were bowled out for 266 with seven balls remaining in their innings. However, Rauf was the one who broke the partnership between Pandya and Kishan in the second over after he was brought back on to bowl. Afridi struck with the first ball of his final spell, dismissing Ravindra Jadeja in the same over. With the firepower Babar has at his disposal in his three quicks, getting the best out of them is tied in with getting the most out of them.

Shadab was still bowling in the 42nd over, just after Kishan’s dismissal. At that point, Naseem had four overs left in his quota, Afridi had three and Rauf two. That left an excess of one over between them if India batted to the fiftieth. It’s a small mistake from Babar to keep his spinner, who hadn’t taken a wicket and gone at over sixes, on for one over too long at the expense of one of the quicks.

I think Pakistan have miscalculated here. Shadab is still on. That means one fast bowler won’t be bowling his 10 overs. #IndvPak

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) September 2, 2023

Nevertheless, with Kishan out and one wicket between Pakistan and India’s tail, it should’ve been a priority to blast through both Hardik and Jadeja as fast as possible. When Shaheen was brought onto bowl and Rauf taken off, that’s exactly what happened.

Pakistan’s pace attack is the envy of the world – if Babar gets his use of them right they could be unstoppable at the upcoming World Cup.

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