Former Pakistan captain and current bowling coach Waqar Younis stated that the Pakistan team got it wrong from the start against arch-rivals India in the 2019 World Cup. Pakistan’s former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed decided to bowl first and Younis feels that the Men in Green should have decided to bat first as there was not much help for the bowlers in Manchester.
Subsequently, India got off to a flying start as Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul added 136 runs for the opening alliance and the foundation for a gargantuan score was laid. The Indian vice-captain Rohit Sharma scored a brilliant knock of 140 runs off just 113 balls. Rohit also added 98 runs with Virat Kohli, who scored 65-ball 77.
Consequently, the Men in Blue posted a mammoth total of 336 runs and Pakistan could not get the impetus in their batting innings. The Sarfaraz Ahmed-led team kept losing wickets at regular intervals and they were never in the contest. Pakistan scored 212 runs in 40 overs and lost the match by 89 runs (DLS method).
Waqar Younis said while talking on Q20, GloFans, “I think Pakistan got it totally wrong against India in 2019 starting right from the toss. I think they were hoping that the pitch will do a lot more and they will get early wickets which will put India under pressure.”
“But, India had very seasoned openers and they did not really let the bowler settle. And, the pitch did not really do much and once they got going it was very difficult to stop them. They piled up so many runs to which Pakistan had no answers at all.”
India has maintained its wood on Pakistan in the 50-overs World Cup. Both the arch-rivals have played seven matches in the World Cup and the Indian team has won all of them. Thus, Team India has been able to handle the pressure of the big matches better than the Pakistan team.
India has ticked the right boxes against Pakistan in the major events and they have been able to dominate their arch nemesis.
In fact, Pakistan had defeated India in the 2017 Champions Trophy final and Virat Kohli had also made the same mistake of bowling first.
There is always a lot of pressure when India locks horns with Pakistan and the team which handles the pressure better, has a greater chance of winning. Ergo, the Indian team has found themselves on the right side of the result.
Pakistan could not qualify for the semi-final in the 2019 World Cup whereas India was knocked out after losing to New Zealand in the semi-final.
