That’s the way to chase

"I did not do anything special," Mohammad Rizwan said after guiding Pakistan to a record World Cup run-chase against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

At no point during Pakistan's attempt to chase down a mammoth 345-run target at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium did it seem that Babar Azam's troops were after something that had never been achieved in the 48-year history of the World Cup.

The chase looked sublime and clinical -- perhaps not the adjectives often used for Pakistan, a nation that revels in its history for being unpredictable.

However, that 'unpredictable' trait of Pakistan was probably on display in the way Rizwan and Abdullah Shafique plotted the entire chase over-by-over despite losing their key batter and skipper Babar Azam early to be reeling at 37 for two.

The presumption ahead of the World Cup was that there would be runs to plunder in India in the mega event -- as it so often happens on the batting-friendly surfaces prepared in ICC events.

This 13th edition of the World Cup has already seen 11 centuries in nine matches. The game between Sri Lanka and Pakistan alone saw four.

But what made the Sri Lanka-Pakistan contest unique is that Kusal Mendis' 65-ball hundred -- the quickest by a Sri Lankan in World Cups -- and Sadeera Samarawickrama's 108 did not turn it into a one-sided contest like the whirlwind tons from New Zealand's Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra, South Africa's Aiden Markram, Quinton De Kock, and Rassie van der Dussen, and England's Dawid Malan did in the other matches.

And that was made possible by a Pakistan side that looked to have calculated every move they made during the chase.

For the 25.5 overs that Rizwan and Shafique batted together, the duo saw at least one delivery cross the boundary line in 14 of them. Aiding their cause were the Sri Lankan bowlers, who gave away as many as 26 extras including 25 wides.

While sometimes Shafique danced down the wicket to hit Dunith Wellalage for maximums, Rizwan took off the pressure by stealing boundaries and running the doubles with utmost conviction.

But none of their efforts seemed forced, partly due to Sri Lanka's mediocre bowling on the day but mostly due to their determination to follow the plan they clearly had in order to chase such a big target.

Sri Lanka now remain winless even after scoring 670 at 7.08 runs per over in the two matches they played so far in the World Cup. What this probably portrays is that the presumption of this World Cup being a run-fest was somewhat true, but for teams to win, especially by overcoming chases of around 350 or more, a proper plan and its execution will be mandatory.

If Pakistan's record of the biggest World Cup chase is broken in the coming days, it won't be surprising because, as it seems, the mega event has only just started to produce the goods it promised.