ICC World Cup 2015: India vs Pakistan - Player ratings

Pakistan Cricket Team

Ahmed Shehzad – 6/10

Shehzad did all the right things during his hour and a half long stay in the middle. He played risk free shots, picked up boundaries regularly and calmed the batsmen coming in. But just when he seemed all set for a big innings, and after doing all the hard work, he slashed one uppishly to point and gave his wicket away. Since he couldn’t capitalize on his settled start, the strike rate of 64.38 only worsened the scenario for his team.

Younis Khan – 1/10

The veteran of 262 ODIs is having serious difficulties in holding onto his place in the side. His recent scores haven’t been encouraging and he looks at unease while opening the batting. His wicket early on added a lot of spunk to the underconfident Indian pace battery and with his diminishing reflexes, where does he fit in?

Haris Sohail – 6/10

Sohail’s stay in the middle was very promising, but eventually, that’s all that it was. Promising. He was timing the ball well and was scoring at a brisk pace. A 68 run partnership with Shehzad also helped in recovering from the early loss of Younis. But a good off-spinning delivery from Ashwin and a sharp catch by Suresh Raina made sure that Sohail’s time was cut short. Earlier in the game, he held onto an important catch to get rid of the ballistic Raina.

Misbah-ul-Haq – 8/10

One might wonder what this 40-year-old needs to do to win a game against India, or even score a one-day ton for that matter. Like a tape recorder on loop, Misbah produced yet another gem against India, as he single handedly kept the Pakistani fight alive with a strong 76 off 84 balls. While the entire team collapsed around him, he remained resolute and executed some stunning shots. This was one of his better knocks, add to that the two catches he took – pure masterclass.

Sohaib Maqsood – 0/10

Played a terrible shot to get out first ball. Suicidal to say the least, when the team was expecting him to hold ground and stabilize the innings.

Umar Akmal – 1/10

Dropped a sitter and gave Virat Kohli a second life, then got out for zero while batting. A solitary catch is all that he got out of the game.

Shahid Afridi – 4/10

The senior most member of the team in terms of the number of games played, Afridi was disappointing. He was not only expensive with the ball, but couldn’t do much with the bat either – falling to a poor shot.

Wahab Riaz – 7/10

Like his last World Cup outing against India, Riaz was promising early on. He constantly troubled the batsmen and didn’t give away runs too easily. The pressure he created from one end allowed the likes of Sohail Khan to flourish. One shouldn’t judge him just by the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja that he got, but the overall spirit that he brought to the Pakistani bowling.

Yasir Shah – 2/10

On a pitch that assisted spinners, Shah wasn’t of any use as he gave away runs at the rate of 7.50 an over. With the bat, he showed that he can fight it out and allowed Misbah room for his late surge.

Sohail Khan – 8.5/10

By far Pakistan’s best fast bowler on display. Had his team won, Khan would have definitely won the Man of the Match. He broke the backbone of the Indian batting by dismissing Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni cheaply, and got the important breakthroughs of Kohli and Raina. The reason why Pakistan chased 301 and not 330 was this fast bowler from Malakand.

Mohammad Irfan – 3/10

Irfan made a mess out of a promising start, as he walked on to the danger area after delivery, got warned twice and ended up bowling two questionable deliveries above the waist height. Against Raina, he was too predictable, constantly pitching it short and allowing the left-hander to pull freely. Towards the end of his final spell, he seemed unfit too. Overall, a waste of potential.