BUMRAH'S COUP D'ETAT
Peter Lalor on cricket's tectonic clash.
Did the earth move for you? Cricket’s tectonic plates came together in the New York afternoon while Australia slept. Some earth was certainly moved to make this T20 happen.
India Pakistan was, appropriately enough, a grinding affair. No high ground was won, gains were marginal at best, the pressure immense and advantage hard earned.
Pakistan won the toss and bowled well. India posted 119, it shouldn’t have been enough but there’s a tightening in such moments and there’s Pakistan and there’s the pitch, the pressure, the pressure and the pitch …
India were too professional. They’re doing this stuff every other night in the IPL. Pakistan were better than they’ve been but bottled it in the end. They were only seven runs short, but in real terms it was more than that.
The critical moment came in the 15th over of the Pakistan innings. Opener Mohammad Rizwan had battted patiently to this point and Bumrah was back to bowl his penultimate over. If they could see him off they might find some clear air, but the batter broke. Rizwan aimed an ugly swipe across the line and was bowled. India gained the momentum Pakistan had lost and went on to a relatively comfortable victory.
This was a game years in the making and those of us who stayed in Manhattan were up before the sun, gathering among the swirling garbage of Saturday night, Sunday coming down, combining in cars for the long ride out to Long Island.
The weather was ominous.
What if the rain washed it all away?
What if the pitch kept playing like crazy paving?
What if we’d come all this way, what if they’d built it and the weather came.
In the early hours there were a lot of anxious faces turned toward the dark Long Island sky. Imagine flying from the subcontinent for a game that washed out.
The ICC had spent $45m on a temporary stadium, even they were saying it was “audacious”, and everybody knew it was all about this one game on this one day.
One stand was from the Miami Grand Prix. The other from Vegas.
The hospitality suites borrowed from the golf.
The pitches from Adelaide via Miami.
An elaborate drainage system installed under the outfield.
You only get one chance.
The Dodgers were in town playing the Yankees up at the Bronx, but the New York Times asserted that the cricket was the biggest game in town.
Fans started to line up from 6.30am. The rain started in the hours before the game and the start was pushed back. A start was abandoned as showers swept back along the island, but eventually the game got going.
A single engine plane drifted back and forth trailing a banner: RELEASE IMRAN KHAN.
Security is so tight at New York’s venue. There’s armoured vehicles and police. Sniffer dogs and crowd control on horse back. Bag check after bag check. Cars subject to rigorous bomb checks. Every corner of ever bag searched. Old hands from these parts say it is the tightest security they’ve ever seen at a New York sporting event.
All day helicopters buzz overhead.
Pictures came in from Manhattan: there was a huge crowd at the live site by the World Trades Centre. And more out at Citi Field.
Indian fans appeared to outnumber their opposite numbers about 100:1. There’s a warm vibe between the supporters.
Pakistan had been poor, no abject, losing to the USA, but they are, after all, the most mercurial of performers and they were so much better this game.
The weather taunted and tormented before eventually relenting and allowing the game to begin late.
If it was Virat you had come to see it was a disappointment. The greatest Indian batsman of his generation lasted but three deliveries. His successor Rohit just 12.
The pitch, one of the four drop ins that have caused so much concern, was better but still left much to be desired. Balls held up: Jadeja and Bumrah both pushed hard at their first deliveries and were caught in front of the wicket. Others flew through. It was hard work while it lasted.
Which wasn’t that long.
The carnival is nearly over.
There are only a few days left in the life of the Nassau International Cricket Stadium. Soon the stands will be disassembled and the parklands returned to the locals. The World Cup will move to the Caribbean and the games really start to matter.