With India’s 61-run win over arch rivals Pakistan in the group match in the ongoing T20 World Cup earlier this month, it meant that India now has eight wins as compared to Pakistan’s one win in the T20 World Cup history. As the Salman Agha led Pakistan side lost to India by 61 runs at Colombo earlier this month, it meant that Pakistan’s string of losses against India in the T20 World Cup continued. Pakistan had last won against India in a T20 World Cup match in the 2021 T20 World Cup, where the Babar Azam led Pakistan team scored a ten-wicket win over India at Dubai. Former Pakistan great and batting coach Mohammad Yousuf believes the ten-wicket against India in the 2021 edition meant that the players got complacent and disrespectful to the coaches following the thumping win and the current crop needs to be grounded.
“Fortunately, or unfortunately, the match that we won against India by 10 wickets, everyone began to think there’s no one better than us. Everyone became disrespectful. When the head coach was speaking in the dressing room, someone would either look at their phone or stare elsewhere. It all began after that match. This is never a good thing for any player. You need to be grounded, which we saw with Inzamam (ul-Haq) bhai, Saeed (Anwar)bhai… they were big players. Still, they always listened to what the coaches had to say,” Yousuf, the Pakistan captain, said on the ‘How Does it Work’ podcast.
Pakistan made their way to the Super 8 stage with a 102-run win against Namibia at Colombo on Wednesday earlier this week. Post the win, Pakistani all-rounder Shadab Khan had spoken about the criticism faced by the Salman Agha side and took a dig at the former players sharing how they had not scored a win over India in World Cup. Pakistan’s ten-wicket win against India in the 2021 T20 World Cup remains their only win against India in a World Cup. “Our ex-cricketers have their own opinions. They have done well for Pakistan, and at the end of the day, they have also never defeated India in the World Cup. We were the ones who defeated India in the 2021 World Cup. In World Cups, we have beaten India only once. Yes, they are legends, but they have never done anything remarkable against India in the World Cup,” Shadab had told reporters post Pakistan’s win over Namibia on Wednesday.
Former Pakistani player Basit Ali had alleged that Shadab is in the side because of his relationship with head coach Mike Hesson. Speaking on ARY News, Ali shared how Shadab is promoted to bat in the top order against weaker teams. “Against weaker teams, he is promoted to bat in the top order. Why? Because he is Mike Hesson’s ladla (favourite). Had it been Inzamam, Waqar or Saqlain in charge, I would have seen where he would bat. I remember taking the A team to England. The whole time, he was busy on his mobile phone. I ended up snatching both his phones,” Ali said.
