Daryl Mitchell is the latest in a long line of batters who have gorged on the Indian bowling. The list is extended and illustrious and includes, among others, Javed Miandad and Zaheer Abbas, Matthew Hayden and Graham Gooch. Especially in the last two and a quarter years, Kiwi Mitchell has helped himself to runs galore against India’s bowlers; four of his nine One-Day International centuries have come against his favourite opponents since the start of the World Cup in 2023 and his sequence of scores since making 130 in the round-robin league defeat to the eventual finalists in Dharamsala reads 134, 17, 63, 84, 131 not out and 137.
If Sahibzada Farhan isn’t spoken of in the same breath as the worthies mentioned above, it’s because the sample size is minimally frugal. The 29-year-old Pakistani opener has played against India just thrice, all at the T20 Asia Cup in Dubai last September, but already boasts scores of 40, 58 and 57. He has smacked 11 fours and nine sixes – 63.2% of his 155 runs have come off boundaries – but more significantly, Farhan has done what few others have managed, which is to put Jasprit Bumrah under immense pressure.
At the aforementioned Asia Cup, Bumrah bowled three overs each in the Power Play in the first two matches and two of the first six in the title clash. In those eight overs, the right-hander lashed him for six fours and three sixes – he became the first man to smack Bumrah for three sixes in the history of the T20 game, domestically or internationally – and scored at more than 150 runs per 100 balls faced against a bowler who enjoys the exalted economy rate of 6.52 runs in 88 T20Is, and 6.92 across 263 20-over representative games in all.
Farhan’s game plan against Bumrah was simple; he cut out all frills, assiduously eschewed the horizontal or cross-batted strokes and primarily relied on his overwhelming strength, which is driving all along the carpet or in the air through and over the straight field after giving himself a bit of room and getting his left leg out of the way. He often gave the impression that he wasn’t too far away from throwing his hand away, but an average of 51.66 across three visits to the crease at a strike rate of 124 indicates that there is great method to his ‘madness’ which is steeped in commonsense and a wonderful awareness of his strengths as well as his weaknesses.
So taken in was head coach Mike Hesson that, after cursory outings at No. 5 and then No. 7 in Christchurch more than two years previously, the head coach decreed that Farhan would continue to open the batting for the foreseeable future. All his nine half-centuries in the only format he plays internationally have come at the top of the tree, and anyone who has appeared to have the measure of Bumrah must be taken seriously.
India used Bumrah only after the Power Play against Namibia on Saturday, though that could change at the Premadasa Stadium on Sunday when they clash with Pakistan in a massive match where there is almost certain to be a distinctive slant towards spin. Bumah vs Farhan is a mouthwatering head-to-head, the confident if not cocky Pakistani against the slighted, charged-up Indian quick who hates more than most the prospect of conceding even a single boundary in his 24 allocated deliveries.
Usman Tariq’s unknown mystery might trouble India
Farhan is a known devil, but there is also an unknown entity in the Pakistani ranks who answers to the name of Usman Tariq. His is one of those fairytale stories that light up the Pakistani cricketing landscape. Handling logistics and procurement responsibilities at an automobile factory in Dubai, Tariq derived the inspiration to chase his dreams after watching the Mahendra Singh Dhoni biopic, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story. Tariq made the trip back to Karachi aspiring to break into the Pakistani cricketing ranks. It took him the better part of a decade to realise his dreams but here he is now, just hours away from representing his country in a World Cup against their fiercest foes from across the border.
Tariq is 30 and boasts only four international appearances, all in the 20-over format, but he has quickly established himself as one to watch. His 11 wickets have come at a strike-rate of a scalp every eight deliveries and he concedes a parsimonious 5.93 runs every over, all of it stemming from a unique approach to the crease. Not only does he pause significantly – some are alleging illegally – jut prior to releasing the ball, but he also employs a slinging action reminiscent of Lasith Malinga, but also fellow off-spinners Kedar Jadhav, Riyan Parag and, most recently, Gerhard Erasmus.
Namibian captain Erasmus troubled India no end on his way to four for 20 in New Delhi on Thursday; Tariq, full of beans and relishing the opportunity to stick it to the Indian batters, would have watched those 24 deliveries with keen interest and drawn terrific gleanings that he will attempt to put to good use at the Premadasa Stadium on Sunday. He is one of five wonderful spinners in the Pakistan ranks, alongside leggies Shadab Khan and Abrar Ahmed, left-armer Mohammad Nawaz and offie Saim Ayub, hoping that his USP can help his country redress to a limited extent a lopsided 7-1 scoreline in India’s favour in all T20 World Cups.
Farhan and Tariq loom as an unlikely wrecking-ball duo in an XI that includes the seasoned Fakhar Zaman and Shaheen Shah Afridi. But the former has pedigree and recent form on his side, the latter has fire in his belly, a sparkle in his eyes and a bucketload of variations. India have been well and truly forewarned.
