All posts tagged: Cricket comparisons

Champions Trophy | Pakistan will struggle to beat India B team, says Sunil Gavaskar | Cricket News

Champions Trophy | Pakistan will struggle to beat India B team, says Sunil Gavaskar | Cricket News

Sunil Gavaskar had a scathing comment on Pakistan’s recent woes when he said that this Pakistan team would struggle to even beat a second string Indian side. Champions Trophy hosts Pakistan have been in the receiving end of endless criticism ever since they lost to India on Sunday and it got much louder after they were dumped out of the tournament after New Zealand defeated Bangladesh on Monday. “I think a B team (from India) certainly (can give Pakistan a run for their money). C team, I am not too sure. But a B team will be very, very hard to beat for Pakistan in their current form,” Gavaskar said on ‘Sports Today’. “I think it’s surprising-this lack of bench strength. Pakistan always had natural talent. Natural in the sense that they may not have always been technically correct, but they had an instinctive understanding of bat and ball. Look at Inzamam-ul-Haq, for example. If you look at his stance, you wouldn’t recommend that to a young batter, but he had great temperament. With that …

IND vs PAK | Champions Trophy: Clinical India show timid Pakistan why they are stuck in a different era | Cricket News

IND vs PAK | Champions Trophy: Clinical India show timid Pakistan why they are stuck in a different era | Cricket News

How much did Pakistan miss a batsman of Virat Kohli’s caliber in the middle-order? How much did they wish they had openers like Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill who showed the urgency to kill the game in the first powerplay? Where are they going to unearth spinners who could collectively choke the opposition in the middle overs? Will their fast-bowling trio, often compared to those in the 90s, ever show there is more to them than numbers that pop on speed gun? When will they realise that unless their fitness parameters improve, they will continue to remain an ordinary fielding outfit that drops catches that could win them matches? If Pakistan do some soul searching, which they are likely to do once the confirmation arrives with regards to the elimination from the Champions Trophy, they need not look beyond India. Since winning the Champions Trophy final against India at the Oval in 2017, this was their sixth straight defeat in completed matches against their arch-rivals. At least till the rivalry retains its hype, it is …