What’s the story?
India’s dominating victory over Pakistan in their Champions Trophy opener has ushered in an avalanche of sorts, drawing flak and criticism from all corners directed at the Pakistan cricket team.
After former Pakistan cricketers Imran Khan, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar lambasted the Sarfraz Khan-led side for their poor show at Edgbaston, former India captain, Sourav Ganguly, has also made his opinion felt on the ‘one-sided contest’ that transpired on June 4.
“It was one-sided and that's been the case for quite a while now. I can't remember last 7-8 years there was anything which was competitive. The last competitive game was probably the 2007 World T20 in South Africa which was 10 years ago,” Ganguly said to India Today.
“You don't enjoy because you know when you wake up in the morning there's only one team which is going to win, which is India,” he added.
In case you didn’t know...
India defeated Pakistan by a heavy margin of 124 runs riding on half-centuries by Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Yuvraj Singh, and a noteworthy performance with the ball and in the field by Ravindra Jadeja.
Chasing 289 from 41 overs, after multiple rain breaks shortened their innings by 9 overs, Pakistan were bundled out for 164 runs in 33.4 overs with Azhar Ali being the lone batsman to be able to put up some resistance with his 65-ball 50.
Details
Picking out technical flaws in Pakistan’s strategies and game-planning, the 43-year-old called using Imad Wasim in the second over of the match as a ‘ridiculous’ move.
“Left-arm spinner bowling the second over for Pakistan in English conditions was ridiculous. India didn't field well and probably gave away more runs than Pakistan, but the pressure of the scoreboard from India was a lot more than that of Pakistan,” Ganguly said.
The veteran India cricketer didn’t spare Pakistan’s fielding effort either as he accused them of dropping the game in the first half itself by dropping two of India’s key batsmen – Kohli and Yuvraj.
“They dropped Yuvraj at 8, Virat Kohli at 40 and those last four overs they gave 72 runs. When left-arm spinner Imad Wasim was bowling the last over it reminded me of Yuvraj bowling to Dmitri Mascarenhas at The Oval (when he smashed five sixes in a row).
"It was a ridiculous way of going around an important game. You can say that for Sarfraz it's his first big tournament as captain but then you have played for a while you know exactly what is happening.”
What’s next?
While the loss to India was indeed embarrassing, Pakistan’s campaign is far from being over. They still have two more games to go – against South Africa and Sri Lanka – and would look to make amends to their performance against India.
Also, what could turn out to be a huge blow to the Asian giants, their frontline pacer Wahab Riaz has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy due to an ankle injury. Although Pakistan do have pacers in their reserves, the loss of an experienced campaigner such as Wahab could hurt their chances.
Author’s take
The criticism from all corners coming the Pakistan cricket team’s way would surely put some extra pressure on the side going forward in the tournament. However, they could choose to take inspiration from the words being hurled at them and make sure they put up an improved performance against South Africa in their next game.
That wouldn’t be easy, though, as the Proteas are believed to be one of the strong contenders for the title and had convincingly defeated Sri Lanka in their opening encounter.
The Imran Khan-led Pakistan side had faced similar problems during the 1992 World Cup, but they had the resolve to fight back from precarious situations – both on and off the field- and went on to win their maiden, and so far the only World Cup title.
Pakistan of this date may look that way for inspiration.
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