Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team on 9 June defeated arch-rival Pakistan in a low-scoring India vs Pakistan match by six runs in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at New York.
After losing the toss at the sluggish Nassau Cricket County ground pitch, India batted first but could hardly score 119 runs and were all out in 19 overs. This was the first time that India was all out against Pakistan in T20 World Cup.
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However, they fought back and kept the Pakistani batter at bay. Pakistan lost early wickets and kept losing momentum. After losing 7 wickets in 20 overs, Pakistan could only manage to score 113 runs and lost by 6 runs.
Upset with Pakistan’s performance, former PCB chief Ramiz Raja said India did Pakistan ‘a favour by playing poorly’ in the second half.
Raja said to Cricbuzz, as quoted by Hindustan Times, “India did them a favour by playing poorly. Actually because they were playing like mavericks, otherwise they would have easily gotten to 140-150, which would have been beyond Pakistan. But because of their faulty shot-making and some good bowling, Pakistan came back into the game.”
Pakistan had even lost their previous group match to the USA in Dallas.
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Speaking on the turning point of the match, Raja said, “We didn’t see any positive intent. There was no great game awareness either. That (Mohammad) Rizwan shot off (Jasprit) Bumrah was not on. Bumrah had come in to provide the breakthrough. His two overs were make-or-break for Pakistan. If they had put their mind to it and made sure that Bumrah was negotiated safely, it could have been a smooth sailing. Also Bumrah, as we all know, is a classic (bowler). Give him the ball in any crunch moment and he will deliver. There is so much clarity in his mind on what he wants to do and he’s always a step ahead of the opponent. That really was the critical moment.”
Pakistan freeze under pressure:
Slamming Mohammed Rizwan and other batters, Ramiz Raja said that Pakistan tend to freeze under pressure against India.
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He said, “Because Rizwan was the last man standing for Pakistan. You see, the thing that frustrates me is that when you’re chasing 120, even on a tricky pitch, even against a good bowling attack like India’s, all you need is one solid partnership. That’s it. No heroics were needed, no fours or sixes. You were going at six an over. Why did you let it slip? That’s got to do with temperament.”
“You got to do simple things. It was a difficult pitch and you saw how India threw their wickets away by trying to be aggressive. You couldn’t be aggressive because there was variation in the bounce. So what you had to do was to just negotiate two or three balls that were difficult. Otherwise, there were three, four runs. But they kept losing wickets. They lost momentum. It’s just that they tend to freeze in a tense situation. And that’s very sad to see. This was the best chance they had in a very long time to beat India,” he added.
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Published: 11 Jun 2024, 03:06 PM IST