The Babar Azam-led Pakistan cricket team has hit a sort of brake at the ODI Cricket World Cup 2023. Though it is still among the top-four teams in the Cricket World Cup standings, the seven-wicket loss to the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team on Saturday is sure to dent its confidence. The India vs Pakistan rivalry is one that is a closely watched affair among the cricket followers. At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the Indian cricket team outplayed their rivals in all departments.
The Indian bowlers, led by Jasprit Bumrah, were on target as they restricted Pakistan to 191. Then Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer scored half-centuries to take the hosts over the line in an emphatic fashion in the Cricket World Cup match.
Former Indian cricket team captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly feels that the Pakistan cricket team will find it hard to make a comeback.
“During our time Pakistan was a different team, this is not the type of Pakistan team we used to play. This team can’t handle the pressure during batting,” Sourav Ganguly was quoted as saying by Times Now. “It will be hard for Pakistan to come back in this World Cup with this batting.”
Sourav Ganguly heaped rich praise on the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team, which is currently sitting at the top of the Cricket World Cup points table. “Rohit played superbly against Pakistan. India’s every department is doing well. Batting, bowling and fielding firing together and at the right time,” he added.
After the match, Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur said that playing in a stadium where there was a partisan atmosphere gave the feel of a ‘BCCI event’.
Arthur said: “Look, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. It didn’t seem like an ICC event to be brutally honest. It seemed like a bilateral series; it seemed like a BCCI event. I didn’t hear ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ coming through the microphones too often tonight.” Arthur, however, said that the lack of support in the crowd could not be used an excuse for the team’s heavy loss to India.
“So yes, that does play a role, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse because for us it was about living the moment, it was about the next ball and it was about how we were going to combat the Indian, the Indian players tonight,” he added.
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