Pakistan were outplayed by India in all facets of the game.
In the bowling department, Kuldeep Yadav returned with three wickets and every other bowler except Mohammad Shami claimed at least one scalp as India bundled out the arch-rivals for 241 in 49.4 overs.
In reply, the Men in Blue rode on Virat Kohli’s unbeaten hundred (100) and crucial contributions from Shreyas Iyer (56) and Shubman Gill (46) to overhaul the target with 45 deliveries to spare.
After the game, Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan spoke about the team’s loss and where they went wrong in the game.
Rizwan admitted that Pakistan had targeted a score of 280 but were restricted to just 240 due to disciplined Indian bowling. He also emphasized that Pakistan struggled in all departments, particularly fielding, which cost them crucial moments.
“We won the toss, but we didn’t get the benefit of toss. We thought 280 was a good score on this pitch. In middle overs, their bowlers bowled very well and got our wickets. Me and Saud Shakeel, we took time because we wanted to take it deep. After that, wrong, poor shot selection. They put us under pressure and that’s why we were squeezed to 240,” Rizwan said at the post-match presentation.
“Whenever you lose, it means you didn’t perform in all departments. Early on, we attacked but they attacked more on us. We wanted to squeeze them, but we didn’t. Abrar gave us a wicket but other end they played really well. Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill took the game far away from us. We need to improve in our fielding as well. We did a lot of mistakes in this match and last match well. Hopefully we can work on them,” he added.
With this defeat, Pakistan are on their way out of the tournament of which they are the designated hosts.
The Men in Green will now face Bangladesh in their final group-stage game on Thursday (February 27) at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.