After Pakistan’s humiliating defeat against first-timers United States in Thursday’s match at the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024, former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has said that high scoring and wickets will have pushed the national side’s confidence high for India clash.
The Men in Green are set to face strong India in a high-voltage World Cup match on June 9 in New York.
Inzamam came up with a big statement about Pakistan’s expected performance in the match against the archrivals, in a video shared on his official YouTube channel.
“If our batters had scored well and bowlers had taken wickets, we would have gone into the match against India with high confidence. India will come into the match with high morale but Pakistan won’t. The match against US was very important for us,” he said.
The former cricketer said that Pakistan cricket was headed towards a “downfall”.
“Babar Azam and company should sit down and think about the kind of cricket they are playing. But, looking at our cricket and selection, I think our cricket is headed towards downfall,” the former right-hander said.
The match between Pakistan and US ended in a tie after 20 overs were played by each side but Pakistan lost the encounter by five runs after failing to chase down 19 in the super over.
Pakistan had posted a 160-run target while batting first which the US managed to level on the last ball of the last over as they concluded their innings at 159-3.
At the post-match presentation, Babar said that they failed to score with intent in powerplay.
“In the first six overs, we didn’t capitalise. Back-to-back wickets always put you on the back foot, as a batter you need to step up and build partnerships,” he said.
Babar mentioned that the same case was with the ball while stressing that spinners were unable to take wickets.
“We were not up to the mark in the first 6 overs with the ball. Our spinners also did not take wickets in the middle overs so these things cost us,” he added.
“All credit to the US, they played better than us in all three departments. Little bit of moisture in the pitch, it was also two-paced. As a professional you need to assess the conditions,” he concluded.