To add to the pain for Norris, the Briton finished under investigation for a procedural infringement at the initial aborted start
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There is a volume of opinion doing the rounds on just why Pakistan is ranked as the best team in the world.
It is a distinction that they have earned, deserve, and will do anything and everything to protect. Even if it means resorting to a lethal battery of fast bowlers who breathe fire with every meteor that they hurl down at the crouching target standing 22 yards across the patch.
Together, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Naseem Shah form arguably the most formidable bowling attack on the planet and, a three-man consortium who consistently bowl at speeds pushing the 150mph barrier.
They are gentle off the field and they do not mind sharing a light moment with their opponents after the end of a battle.
But when they are in the middle, they allow the opposing batsman no respite or time to breathe.
With a deadly combination of pace, swing and relentless accuracy, these three fast bowlers have terrorised the batsmen in the ongoing Asia Cup, even troubling the vaunted Indian top-order in the rain-marred clash.
It's too early to make predictions, but Pakistan will be brimming with confidence when they reach India for a tilt at the World Cup.
Being the hosts, India will start the big favourite alongside defending champions England and Australia, but this Pakistan team have what it takes to go all the way.
And it's primarily their fast bowlers that have made them a formidable force.
When you think of it, with two balls and rules that heavily favour the batsmen in white-ball cricket, it's quite incredible to see the control of this Pakistan attack.
They complement each other so well. Shaheen, with his left-arm pace and the ability to move the ball both ways, can outfox the best of the batsmen in world cricket.
The 23-year-old's performance against the Indian top-order when he unleashed his scorching in-swingers and variations during the 2021 T20 World Cup and last Saturday's Asia Cup clash would continue to send shivers down the spine.
Naseem, Shaheen's new-ball partner who only made his white-ball debut at the age of 19 last year, seems to have mastered the format very quickly.
And, the 29-year-old Rauf, the third pacer in the bowling attack, is the late bloomer who was bowling to Virat Kohli in the nets during India's Australia tour in 2018 when the Pakistani bowler was playing club cricket Down Under.
For years Pakistan cricket has pursued creating a production line of fast bowlers that have physicality, ability, and guile. It’s the legacy that former greats like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, and Waqar Younis have left behind for a whole new generation of fast bowlers to build on.
With all due respect to the brilliant spinners that came out of the country, among them Abdul Qadir, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed, pace bowling is an intrinsic component of Pakistan’s cricket culture.
From the boys in the street playing gully cricket with a taped ball to highly-respected grooming schools like the Abdul Qadir International Cricket Academy, the Aleem Dar Cricket Academy or the National Cricket Academy Lahore, every young aspiring cricketer is bowling his heart out attempting to dismantle batsmen, shatter the stumps and rip through the nets.
So it was no surprise when Shaheen, Rauf and Naseem Shah made history when they became the first fast bowlers to claim all ten wickets in the rained-off Asia Cup match against India.
Any batsman who has attempted to stand up against such a high-quality and tenacious bowling department will tell you that survival was of paramount importance. Runs would be secondary.
No other pace bowling attack in the recent history has been able to instil so much fear and bewilderment in batsmen.
ODI cricket was created to be a batsman’s game, but Afridi, Rauf, and Shah have tilted the scales in favour of the seam bowlers with their natural ability to swing the ball, with the shine or without.
It is this skill that helps them command respect and fear wherever they play with next month’s World Cup sure to fall under their spell.
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