Pakistan beat India: Virat Kohli’s Team India faced a historic defeat against Babar Azam’s Pakistan cricket team in their first match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 here at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. This was Pakistan’s first win over India in the ICC World Cup. Men in Blue were thrashed by 10 wickets by Men in Green. And it looked like India were not well prepared to play against Virat Kohli.
Pakistan beat India: Hardik Pandya’s fitness, Kohli’s stubbornness reason for India’s defeat to Pakistan, check how
Tough day for #TeamIndia at the office, but we will bounce back in our next game.#T20WorldCup #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/mYwYXVN6xc
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 24, 2021
We at Insidesport will take you through 3 big reasons behind Team India’s historic defeat against Pakistan
No option for 6th bowler
Pakistan beat India: Hardik Pandya made it clear before the match that he will not be bowling in today’s game which meant that Team India were playing with just 5 bowlers in their rank including all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. In the pratice games, Virat Kohli himself bowled a few overs and gave the Indian team mangement some hopes that he could bowl a few overs here and there to help India in the crunch situations. However, we did not see Virat bowling in the game against Pakistan.
With just 5 bowlers in their lineup, India wanted the experienced bowlers to fire against the top-notch batting of Pakistan but that also did not happen as Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were hit for plenty in their bowling. To add to Virat Kohli’s trouble mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy also failed to put an impact and provide breakthroughs. In the next game Indian.
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No planning against Shaheen Afridi
Well before the game started, every cricket pundit were talking about how Shaheen Afridi could trouble Virat Kohli and company with his swing bowling. In the Champions Trophy final in 2017, Team India were hit by another left-arm quick named Mohammad Amir who removed India’s top three and this time Pakistan’s Shaheen did the same with India. The likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul have all have one weakness and that has been against left-arm pacers. Just sample this – Rohit Sharma has fallen victim to left-arm pacers 13 times, Suryakumar Yadav 10 times, Virat Kohli 9 times.
Pakistan beat India: Indian team looked clueless against the bowling of Afridi. His deadly inswinging yorkers were rather unplayable as India’s lack of left-handers in the Top 4 proved costly. In his three overs, Afridi sent back Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in his first two overs. In fact, in his first 24 deliveries, there were 13 dot balls, the highest amongst all Pakistan bowlers, proving he was too hot to handle for Team India.
Time to reflect and come back stronger 👍#TeamIndia #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/ZGvkQAMASy
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 24, 2021
Selecting players on reputation and not form
Ravi Shastri and the Indian team mangement selected players on their reputation and not on the current form. Hardik Pandya was not fit yet he was picked over Ishan Kishan who was in top-notch form in the recently concluded IPL 2021. If Hardik was not going to bowl there was no point in keeping out of form Hardik in the team instead of Ishan.
Pakistan beat India: Another player that was picked on his reputation and not current form was Bhuwaneshwar Kumar who leaked runs at an economy of 8.30. Instead of Kumar or even Shami, Shardul Thakur could have given a chance looking at his performance in the IPL 2021 where he was Man with the Golden Arm for Chennai Super Kings, taking wickets at crucial points for his side.
Pakistan beat India: Hardik Pandya’s fitness, Kohli’s stubbornness reason for India’s defeat to Pakistan, check how
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