India Outclassed By A Determined Pakistan
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-10-25 03:14:39
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
It was simply not India's day and they were outclassed by a determined and supremely talented Pakistan in all departments of the game. That Pakistan won by 10 wickets (incidentally the biggest ever T20 defeat for India) was for the record - what mattered was that they never gave India the chance to recover from the initial blows delivered by the lethal Shaheen Afridi and showed the intent to win from the first ball. India, on the other hand, failed to deliver both with the bat and the ball. The law of average had to catch up with India but one expected a fierce contest. In the end, it was a one-sided match.
Shaheen Afridi broke the back of India's batting by dismissing the in-form opening pair of Rohit Sharma and K L Rahul in quick succession. Although Virat Kohli tried his best and was supported by Rishabh Pant for some time, India never really recovered from those blows. In the end, 151 was too small a total to defend as the Pakistani line-up boasted of excellent batters in this format.
In the recent past, bowlers have raised their hands and delivered the sucker punch for India in tight situations. Sadly, they did not deliver on Sunday. As a regal Babar Azam and an exuberant Md Rizwan went about their task single-mindedly and with precision, none of the Indian bowlers made an impact. While Rizwan was the more destructive of the two, it was Azam who showed his class and was elegant in attack and rock-solid in defence. It was a well-deserved victory for Pakistan.
Although this loss will rankle, India must quickly move on as there is a tournament to be played and a trophy to be won. India has the team to do the job. It was perhaps a bad day in office and the team must treat it as such. They must now win against New Zealand and get their moorings back. With Virat Kohli at the helm and supported by head coach Ravi Shashtri and mentor M S Dhoni, it is not going to be a difficult task. They must sit together to inspire the players to give their best in the rest of the games.
