Both of them are of a recent vintage - 22-years-old in life, one-month-old in international cricket - and both of them are vital going forward
Hardik Pandya claimed Shoaib Malik in the seventh over and went on to finish with 3 for 8 © Associated Press
The Asia Cup has been around for over three decades. Twenty20 cricket over a decade. They've never met each other until now. Like Gilligan and his friends from the island, they moved in different circles until necessity dictated otherwise.
The decision to change the format of the 2016 Asia Cup from its usual 50-over setup was taken in light of the fact that the World T20 would follow it a mere week later. Such close proximity between the two tournaments was such that the Asia Cup was in danger of being overshadowed. The World T20 had more teams, higher stakes and a grander prize.
But for over a week in Bangladesh - including the qualifying round - the cricket has been riveting. Bowlers have had the opportunity to challenge the batsmen and the batsmen have been game for the challenge. Some of that has been the result of the pitches on show.
There has been healthy covering of grass on every one of them seen in the main round of the Asia Cup. The intention, it seems, is to make sure the tracks hold up for the length of the tournament. Mirpur's square has seven of them and they would have hosted 12 matches in a fortnight.
A side effect has been that the fast bowlers have had such a grand time it might make them question if they were in the subcontinent. Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are among them. They've added a proper kick to India's one-day unit.
Both of them are of a recent vintage - 22-years-old in life, one-month-old in international cricket - and both of them are vital going forward because Bumrah is an opening bowler and Pandya is the holding bowler. Those are often indispensable roles. Roles that MS Dhoni has pined for. Roles that were done excellently in a five-wicket victory over Pakistan in a marquee clash at the Asia Cup.
Bumrah did not bowl his full quota, in part because the opposition did not last their full quota of overs. But out of the 18 balls he did send down, 16 were dots.
At the post-match press conference, India captain MS Dhoni said the team had wanted their new-ball bowlers to target a specific area. "I don't think it was a very full length he was supposed to bowl, just ahead of the three-quarter length and if you can hit the seam, there was movement on offer. So that's what the communication was [to the bowlers]."
According to ball-by-ball data on ESPNcricinfo, Bumrah landed eight balls on a good length on off stump, one full on off stump, one ball on a good length on middle and one short of a good length on middle. Those stats are against right-handed batsmen. None of them went for any runs.
He bowled three against a left-hander, and took a wicket off one of them - Sharjeel Khan, who had struck a century in the Pakistan Super League last week. The manner of the dismissal helps one understand why India team director Ravi Shastri rates him intelligent beyond his age.
Bumrah had troubled T20I debutant Khurram Manzoor with his pace and angle into the right-hander, but the left-handed Sharjeel wasn't as affected. He seemed to be fine with pace on the ball and in the mood to add some pace to it himself. So Bumrah sucker punched him with an offcutter. It gripped on the deck, jagged away and nicked the outside edge through to the wicketkeeper.
His yorkers gained acclaim by going through some of the finest hitters of the ball in Australia. But it can sometimes be a crude weapon. You either bulldoze through the batsman or you end up watching a full toss or a half-volley get smacked. Against Sharjeel, Bumrah showed finesse. He was able to read the batsman and get two steps ahead of him.
Dhoni is known for that himself. So when he brought Hardik Pandya on immediately after the Powerplay, it seemed a little unnecessary. Shoaib Malik was in the middle of trying to recover from having run his partner out and Umar Akmal was a brand new batsman coming in with the score on 32 for 3. There was lead spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, India's talisman in every format, but they were held back as the fifth and sixth bowlers used. There was no compromise on wicket-taking, though. Such is the luxury Pandya offers as a seam-bowling allrounder.
Pandya has said that batting is his better suit, but he has been a relatively regular bowler for Baroda in the domestic circuit and Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Prior to joining the India team, he had 317.3 overs from 53 innings across formats. That's an average of nearly six overs a game.
He has bowled a full quota 16 out of 44 times he was used in T20s and three out of five times he was used in List A cricket. So there are clear indications of his being able to contribute as a fast bowler. And now that he doesn't have to face an international debut - when he introduced himself with an 11-ball over - he sure is showing the confidence of one.
He celebrated like Brett Lee - leaping up and clicking his heels - when he had Shoaib Malik caught behind and then greeted Wahab Riaz with a bouncer before hitting him on the body too. Pandya finished Pakistan off by taking two wickets in two balls, one of them by toppling middle stump. The maturity he has shown in taking up the third-seamer's role has pleased Shastri. The accuracy he and the rest of the attack showed today pleased Dhoni.
"On a wicket like this, you don't know what is a good score," Dhoni said. When you go into bat, at times you think 140, 150, but if you see today's game, at times you think maybe 125 would have been a very good score. So you don't know what is a good score on a wicket like this.
"I'm glad that we were able to restrict them to 84 or 85 runs because it makes the job slightly easy because these kind of wickets, you can get a good delivery at any point of time and especially the first four or five overs are very crucial and when the dew is not around, that can get extended to a couple more overs."
Bumrah and Pandya were able to exploit the conditions on offer, Virat Kohli respected them and made sure there was another victory and India basked in the growth of its newest recruits.
