Follow UsPakistan suffered a heavy defeat in a clash against the arch-rivals India in the fifth match of the ICC Champions Trophy, being played at the Dubai International Stadium.
After being all out for 241 in 49.4 overs in an innings that saw only 131 runs scored in the overs 11-40, Pakistan were found guilty of being at least 30-40 runs short of the par score on the pitch despite being 52/2 at the end of 10 overs.
Meanwhile, India motored along in the chase with ease, as Virat Kohli brought up his 82nd international century to help India win their second game in the tournament on the trot. He remained not out on 100* as India gobbled up the target with six wickets in hand.
When asked about his innings in the post-match press conference, the Pakistani skipper Mohammad Rizwan was all praise for the Indian batter who completed his historic 51st ODI century yesterday.
“First, let's talk about Virat Kohli. I am surprised at his hard work. He must have worked so hard,” Rizwan said.
“The world says he is out of form, but he comes to such big matches, which the world is waiting for, and he easily hits the ball – and this is where we don’t want to give him runs. But he plays and gets away from us, and he gets the runs off the ball.”
Even India’s number four batter had mentioned in his press conference that Kohli had come an hour or so earlier than the team in practice a day before the game, and practiced in the nets with the help of local UAE net bowlers.
“I will definitely praise his fitness level and hard work, the way he has done it,” Rizwan continued.
“Because he is a cricketer and we are also cricketers. We tried very hard to get him out, but he took the game away. He has done a lot of hard work. The whole world said he was out of form - but he did it in this big match.”
The wicketkeeper batter also acknowledged that the team was behind the par score they had decided before the game began, as the pitch was slow and not conducive to aggressive shot-making. Rizwan was notably the slowed batter on display in the game, scoring 46 runs at a strike rate of 59.74.
“Yesterday in our meeting, we had discussed that on this pitch, around 270 – 280 runs would be enough to score,” Rizwan informed.
“The outfield was slow, the pitch was slow. So, the ball wasn't going in the gaps. If we had scored 280, maybe the results would have been different today. But me and Saud tried to build a partnership and took a lot of time. But after that, the shot selection was poor, and that’s where they got a chance to take our wickets. After that our middle order maybe couldn’t take the pressure and we couldn’t manage.”
Pakistan’s strategy of playing just one specialist spinner was also scrutinised by almost all experts. The team played only Abrar Ahmed as the specialist spinner, relying on part-time off-spinner Salman Ali Agha and left-arm spinner Khushdil Shah to complete the fifth bowler’s overs.
They gave 53 runs in the 57 deliveries they bowled combined and picked only one wicket late in the innings when the chase became just a formality.
“No, you can't say anything like that – that we did a mistake by picking just one spinner,” the 32 year old said, defending his strategy.
“If you look at that Indian team also they have Kuldeep as the front-line spinner. Jadeja is like an rounder, Axar Patel is like a rounder. We also have Salman Ali Agha - he bowled very well in other countries as well and Khushdil Shah, they bowled very well like in the past.”
India lead the group after two wins in two games, meanwhile, Pakistan are looking at the exit door in the home tournament as the chances of their qualification rely on other teams now.