Former Pakistani cricketer Javeria Khan has joined the frenzy over Pakistan’s speechless defeat at the hands of arch-rivals India on Sunday, June 9, in New York.
Khan took to her X account (formerly Twitter) and commented on Pakistan’s last night's defeat saying that “India didn't beat Pakistan. Pakistan beat itself.”
Khan’s tweet comes under perspective as Pakistan had an easy target of 120 to chase on 120 balls still the team managed to lose the game as they could score only 113/7.
Pakistan has been under fire due to losing such an easy match as quoted by former captain Shahid Afridi who took to his YouTube channel and said, “We [Pakistan] just needed to score 120 runs [to win] on the pitch where India was 35-40 runs short [in the first innings] but with the disciplined bowling of their bowlers, we failed to score even 120 runs. It was a game of 120 runs on 120 balls,” he said.
Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam scored 13 on 10 and experienced wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan played a slow innings, 31 off 44, that did not help Pakistan’s cause.
In the end, the game was left to tailenders Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. Naseem tried to get Pakistan over the line as he scored 10 runs on four balls with two fours in what could have been the country’s second win in a World Cup game against India. However, Naseem had already played his part with the ball as he took three wickets including the wicket of Virat Kohli and helped Pakistan restrict India to 119.
For India, the game changer was their pacer Jasprit Bumrah who got the duo of Babar and Rizwan out and turned the game in India’s favour.
Pakistan’s chances to qualify for the Super 8s now depend on the performances and results of other teams as Pakistan lies at the fourth spot of the Group A table after two back-to-back defeats with their first loss of the T20 World Cup 2024 against the relatively inexperienced team of the USA.
Pakistan will now have two more games to go in the group stage of the T20 World Cup 2024 against Canada on June 11 and Ireland on June 16.
