Babar Azam got out soon after completing his half-century against India.
Pakistan’s innings folded for a below-par 191 in 42.5 overs after being asked to bat first. The Men in Green were 155/2 at one stage but suffered a collapse that saw them lose eight wickets for just 36 runs.
In reply, Rohit Sharma took the Pakistani bowling attack to the cleaners, slamming 86 off 63 balls to put his team on the brink of victory. After his dismissal, Shreyas Iyer (53*) and KL Rahul (19*) completed the formalities and took India over the line with 117 deliveries to spare.
Following the match, former India opener Gautam Gambhir came down heavily on Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, who scored 50 runs off 58 balls.
According to Gambhir, Babar was extremely timid against India. He also added that both Babar and Mohammad Rizwan (49) were batting with the same approach during their 82-run stand for the third wicket.
“Babar Azam has been extremely timid. Two batters cannot bat the same way in a partnership, one of them has to take chances. If you are playing for a fifty or your runs, you will get such results,” said Gambhir while speaking to Star Sports.
“Babar Azam has scored a lot of runs for himself but it's been Pakistan's history that they have liked to bat aggressively at the start, whether it was Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir or Taufeeq Umar, and they consolidate in the middle. However, here in the top three, there isn't a single batter who can take on the opposition attack,” he further added.
Babar Azam lost his wicket during the 30th over of Pakistan’s innings when he was trying to dab a delivery from Mohammed Siraj towards third man but the ball skidded through sharply and hit the top of off stump.
Commenting on Babar’s dismissal, Gambhir said: “It was an extremely bad shot. You don't expect such a shot from a world-class batter. You had scored 50 runs and played nearly 60 balls, you knew there wasn't much bounce and it was not the length where you could have played the late cut. You could have punched it.”
Pakistan’s next World Cup clash is scheduled against Australia in Bangalore on Friday (October 20).