KARACHI: Former cricketing legend and Pakistani captain Javed Miandad on Monday said Pakistan’s Sunday victory against archrivals India was “brilliant and convincing,” but the Babar Azam-led side should not prioritize one match but aim to bring home the Twenty20 World Cup trophy.
Babar and Mohammad Rizwan smashed unbeaten half-centuries as Pakistan crushed India by 10 wickets to register their first win over the archrivals in the high-voltage T20 World Cup opener in Dubai on Sunday.
This was Pakistan’s first-ever victory by 10 wickets against any opposition in a T20 while India also lost by such a huge margin for the first time. India had beaten Pakistan in all of their 12 matches at the T20 and 50-over World Cups.
“Pakistan played brilliantly. This was a very convincing victory with the best display of talent in all departments and a big achievement to defeat India but the team should focus on the World Cup for which they are in UAE,” Miandad told Arab News. advising Pakistan to stay at the crease and absorb pressure: “The team is there for the World-Cup, which will be a bigger achievement.”
He said Pakistan were favorites to reach the final in his opinion.
“Babar and Rizwan played so well and took it to the finish line. But not only these two, Pakistan have a strong batting line and if there was a need, others would have also performed well,” said Miandad, who was a key member of the Pakistan squad that brought the 1992 World Cup home.
Indeed, praise for Pakistan’s win also came from people across the border, including former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin who said Pakistan was the better team on Sunday.
“Give credit where it’s due. Pakistan played better today. It was a complete team effort. As for India nothing is lost, there is still time to learn from these mistakes and move forward,” Azharuddin said in a Twitter post.
Give credit where it’s due. Pakistan played better today. It was a complete team effort. As for India nothing is lost there is still time to learn from these mistakes and move forward. #INDvPAK #T20WorldCup
— Mohammed Azharuddin (@azharflicks) October 24, 2021
Former Indian spinner HarbHajjan Singh complimented Pakistan for their “brilliant win,” saying India would learn from their mistakes and come back stronger.
It wasn’t India’s day today. Am sure they will learn from their mistakes and come back stronger @BCCI But I must compliment Pakistan for their Brilliant win . They were a better team today @TheRealPCB #INDvPAK
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) October 24, 2021
Cricket analyst and journalist Faizan Lakhani said it was a “special win” for Pakistan and the manner in which the team achieved the victory made it even more special.
“India was totally outplayed by Pakistan,” he said, saying opting to field after winning the toss was a brilliant decision by Babar.
“The best thing about Pakistan’s win was to see them playing like a unit, everyone was playing like a team, the body language last night was very different from what it used to be in the past,” Lakhani said.
While a lot has been said about Babar and Rizwan’s batting, the journalist said, and they deserved the appreciation, “Shaheen’s bowling also deserves to be applauded.”
“We can’t ignore the impact Haris Rauf put in death overs. He didn’t concede any single boundary in his two death overs, gave only 11 runs — including one leg bye,” he said. “He used different variations as well. His calculated bowling restricted India from posting a comparatively big total.”
