Pakistan extended its losing record to India in World Cup to a pitiful 0-6. India are the reigning champions and proved to be a superior team on Sunday. Few critical blunders were made in the selection of the final eleven, Younis Khan opened the innings just for the third time in his entire career. We dropped the genuine wicket keeper Sarfraz Ahmed for the makeshift replacement Umar Akmal. Umar dropped the crucial catch of Viral Kohli who went on to make a century and eventually was announced man of the match.
A target of 300 should still have been chaseable against India’s mediocre bowlers. We did not even come close. Ahmed Shahzad and Sohaib Maqsood played criminally irresponsible shots. Umar Akmal was unlucky to be given out by the third umpire in a doubtful decision. But truth is, we didn’t lose because of the umpiring; we lost because we deserved to lose.
Although it was very crucial match and a win could have given tremendous confidence to the green shirts. But this is not the end of the World Cup, we can mend our ways to improve the performance else chances to qualify for the quarter finals would be bleak.
Ireland has rung alarm bells for all teams in the Pool B after comfortably beating West Indies by four wickets chasing 306. The Windies set a decent target but Ireland achieved the target of 307 in a ridiculously easy way, 25 balls to spare. We cannot take the matches against Ireland and Zimbabwe light; both teams have shown their talent in their opening matches against top class teams.
Our next match is against the West Indies, perhaps the only team in greater disorder than us. That isn’t a must-win match but it is one we need to win to boost our confidence. The tournament still has six weeks to run so while we may not look like a team with the quality to lift the trophy we have plenty of time to recover.
