When the battle began at 8 a.m.on 14th January, 1761 after the Marathas' scantier foodgrains were engulfed by their soldiers, Durrani forces fired their short range cannons, but proved to be ineffective because of falling their ignition on the middle of the battlefield. Thus Ahmad Shah Durrani tried to thwart Maratha advance, he sent his special messenger over the river Jamuna to cross his roughly 15000 baluch soldiers who were engaged to block supply lines of Maratha. Ahmad Shah Abdali had little faith on his allies's ground troops. So, he cunningly played hit and run tactics until his 15000 Baluch troops completed crossing Jamuna toward the East. After reaching his 15000 cavalry troops in the evening, Ahmad Shah Abdali decided the final phase of his charge. In the meantime, after receiving message of crossing 15000 Afgan troops across the river Jamuna, Vishwasrao disappeared from the battlefield and secretly crossed the river Jamuna on the west. This was a major blow for the maratha side. On the other side Ahmad Shah Abdali tried to prolong the battle for minimum losses and maximum gains. And he was successful in his tactics.