Alongside Yuvi’ ‘Pak cricket can’t be fixed’
Clinical performance by Indian team to kick start the campaign. Congratulations!! #INDvPAK #CT17 THE PAKISTAN PLAYERS LOOKED TENSE AND NERVOUS DESPITE THE CLAIMS TO THE CONTRARY BEFORE THE START OF THE GAME. I know winning & losing are part of the game but it was painful to watch Pak being thrashed by India without putting up a fight
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are very hard to stop if they are allowed to settle early. Pakistan missed a trick and for the rest of the Indian innings there was hardly a period where they looked troubled.
Pakistan’s fielding was very ordinary too, with easy runs given away inside the circle, besides the dropped chances, which made life tougher for the bowlers.
The players looked tense and nervous despite the claims to the contrary before the start of the game.
India built a solid platform through Sharma and Dhawan. Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh than flayed a tiring attack before Hardik Pandya’s cameo turned the match totally in the defending
India’s clash against Pakistan was a hyped up affair despite both the gulf in class between the two sides and the looming threat of a washout at Edgbaston. And whilst the rain did interrupt the play a number of times, it didn’t stop India from cantering to an easy win in their opening group game. This convincing win was easily the best way for Virat Kohli’s men to start their title defence.
However, the nature of the loss was a deflating one for Pakistani fans. These sentiments were echoed by Pakistani cricket legend Imran Khan, who took to Twitter to describe the loss as “painful”.
Imran Khan’s biggest target, however, was the people responsible for running the game in Pakistan. In a series of tweets, the Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman made it clear that without a reform of the cricket structure in place, Pakistani cricket will continue to lag behind.
Indeed, Pakistan had a poor all-round performance.
The bowling was off-pace and the fielding was worse. Yuvraj Singh was dropped early in his innings whilst Kohli was let off the hook twice. Both ended up scoring commanding fifties. This built on the good opening partnership of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma which also saw both notch halfcenturies. In comparison, only Azhar Ali reached that mark for Pakistan.
Whilst noting that his side need to “tune up” their fielding, Virat Kohli was all praise for his side. “I think this was a very complete performance starting the tournament,” said the skipper. However, champion’s favour.
This was a big game, and after the initial overs, the Pakistani bowlers crumbled rather insipidly. Wahab Riaz was once the spearhead of this bowling attack but his performance was a major let down.
Our death bowling was once our strength, especially with the ability of our bowlers to bowl Pakistan will have to show rapid improvements in all departments if they are to stand any chance of progressing to the semi-finals.
Unless Pak cricket structure is totally revamped, despite an abundance of talent the gap between Pak & India will keep increasing. Pote ke baad Bete. Koi baat nahi Beta, Well tried ! Congratulations Bharat !#BaapBaapHotaHai #INDvPAK.
yorkers consistently.
I don’t know why the yorker has gone missing. Perhaps the two new balls and the lack of reverse swing at the end of the innings have shattered the confidence of the pace bowlers.
As has been the case in recent years, our batting looked clueless as the run-rate mounted.
Despite a solid start we never looked like chasing down the target as the batsmen failed to break the shackles.
In modern ODI cricket you need to innovate and come hard at the bowlers, batsmen can’t let the bowlers get into their groove. I hope the team management lifts the morale of the players ahead of the do-or-die clash; hopefully we will see them fight hard.