Even India’s B Team Tough for Pakistan to Beat, Says Gavaskar

Pakistan's cricket team remained under scathing criticism after their exit from the Champions Trophy, with cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar saying that they would find it tough even against a second-string Indian team.

India, 2023 ODI World Cup runners-up, reaffirmed their supremacy over Pakistan as they won by six wickets in Dubai on Sunday, knocking out the defending champions from the tournament.

Commenting on 'Sports Today,' Gavaskar evaluated Pakistan's form and said, "I think a B team certainly. C team, I am not too sure. But a B team will be very, very hard to beat for Pakistan in their current form."

Pakistan, which was playing its first ICC event since 1996, was knocked out of the Champions Trophy as New Zealand beat Bangladesh in another Group A match. The team is still winless in the tournament.

Pakistan's cricket fortunes have sagged since it won the Champions Trophy in 2017, with successive fifth-place finishes in the previous two ODI World Cups.

Voicing his amazement at the lack of depth in Pakistan, Gavaskar added, "I think it's surprising—this absence of bench strength. Pakistan always had natural ability. Natural in the sense that they may not have always been technically sound, but they had an intuitive understanding of bat and ball."

Referring to a past captain Inzamam-ul-Haq as an example, he further added, "Take the case of Inzamam-ul-Haq, for instance. You might not suggest that stance to a young batter, but he possessed excellent temperament. With such temperament, he compensated for any technical deficit."

Gavaskar also noted that even with the Pakistan Super League and other local white-ball competitions, the nation has not been able to generate world-class players in recent times.

"How has India produced so many young stars in white-ball cricket? It's because of the IPL," he clarified.

"Players from there have gone on to play in the Ranji Trophy and ultimately for India. That is something Pakistan cricket needs to study. They need to understand why they no longer possess the bench strength they used to."

India vs Pakistan: A Once-Competitive Rivalry Now One-Sided, Says Atherton
An India-Pakistan showdown has ever been one of the most eagerly awaited meetings in international cricket, but ex-England skipper Michael Atherton says the one-upmanship has become unbalanced, with the standard of cricket not being able to match the majority of hype surrounding it.

"It was utterly one-sided," declared Atherton on the Sky Sports Podcast.

"It seemed very predictable from a distance. A weak Pakistan batting line-up, as it was in that first match, indeed, against New Zealand. There just seemed to be a lack of a bit of energy and dynamism in the batting."

India and Pakistan only play each other in ICC tournaments because of political tensions, so their matches are rare and highly publicized.

"There's a bit of a problem for that contest, isn't there? Because it's a much-awaited contest for all sorts of reasons. Partly, you know, just because of the rarity value. They only meet each other in ICC events on neutral ground for obvious reasons," Atherton said.

But there's so much build-up around that game. You sort of hope the cricket lives up to the build-up too. If you look at the record in the last 10 years, I think they've played nine times against each other in ODIs in the last 10 years.".

"Pakistan have only won once, and that was in that final in the Champions Trophy at the Oval. So, it's a one-sided contest right now."

Pakistan has a historical advantage over India in ODI head-to-head matches, having won 58 out of 136. But Atherton pointed out that Pakistan lost its competitive edge over the last decade.