Mohammad Rizwan (79 not out off 55 balls) and Babar Azam (68 not out off 52 balls) partnership helped Pakistan crush India by ten wickets on Sunday in a Group 2 match of Super 12 of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium. The win, set up by Shaheen Shah Afridi’s opening burst, also meant that Pakistan broke their hoodoo against India in men's T20 World Cups. Electing to bowl first, Pakistan restricted India to 151/7 in 20 overs with Afridi rattling the 2007 champions with a two-wicket burst. Skipper Virat Kohli struck a fighting fifty but India never recovered from the early setback and could not manage a big score. Their bowling was even more pedestrian as Pakistan chased down the score in 17.5 overs to seal and memorable victory. There were several distinct moments and signs that suggested rather a lethargic tone of the Indian side during the clash. Here are 5 major reasons why India lost to Pakistan:
1. Body language and intent:
From the start, India looked rather lethargic as Indian opener Rohit Sharma succumbed to some brilliant bowling by Shaheen Afridi in the first over. As the overs went on, Indian batsmen kept falling even in the middle order with only Virat Kohli establishing himself. The attacking duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant played second fiddle to their captain but the regular fall of wickets at the other end left Kohli helpless.
The intent with which Pakistan had come in for the contest and their body language was simply far better than India throughout the match.
"We know how exactly the game went and where it went wrong and we have absolute clarity of that. That's a good thing to know where you went wrong,” said Virat Kohli who had no qualms in admitting that India was outplayed.
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2. Too many dot balls:
India allowed a total of 46 dot balls during their innings, which translated to around 8 maiden overs by Pakistan. This resulted in a hefty overall run reduction as even strike rotation would have benefited India’s score.
3. Middle-order crumbled:
Ravindra Jadeja (13 runs off 13 balls) and Hardik Pandya (11 runs off 8 balls) came with zest and had a big responsibility on them to push India’s score when the side was struggling towards the end of the innings. However, both all-rounders crumbled when faced with a quality bowling attack of Pakistan.
4. Inefficient Indian bowling:
Getting the Pakistani opener Babar Azam and Mohd Rizwan out early in the innings could have impacted the game monumentally, only for the Indian bowling attack to fail. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar ceased to be threatening after the ball stopped moving sideways. Moreover, Shami did not trouble either and instead bowled lacklustre lengths towards the end of the innings.
5. Smart and responsible Pakistan batting:
Smart decision making and calculated shotmaking was the trademark of the Pakistani openers, who carried their country to victory in a very responsible manner. Both Babar Azam and Mohd Rizwan played aggressively yet slowed down when Indian bowlers started to create some pressure.
Brief scores: India 151/7 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 57, Rishabh Pant 39, Shaheen Afridi 3/31, Hasan Ali 2/44) lost to Pakistan 152/0 in 17.5 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 79 not out, Babar Azam 68 not out) by ten wickets.
