T20 World Cup 2024: India’s bowling show against Pakistan was right up there – Paras Mhambrey

India’s bowling coach Parag Mhambrey has tipped the team’s bowling performance against Pakistan as one of their best. Given the low score and the pressure of playing the arch-rivals, Mhambrey hailed the collective show.

India posted a below-par score of 119 runs on the board after they were put into bat by Pakistan skipper Babar Azam. However, India was able to restrict Pakistan to 113-7 and registered a thumping win of six runs. 

Jasprit Bumrah returned with impressive figures of 3-14 in his quota of four overs as he accounted for Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Iftikhar Ahmed. The gun fast bowler showed all the patience and bowled a total of 15 dot balls in his fine spell.

Furthermore, Hardik Pandya bagged 2-24 in his four overs quota whereas Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel took one wicket apiece.

“Well, there were a couple of them. I thought in a different format. I thought the Test win in South Africa, the last game that we played in South Africa was phenomenal. But yeah, if you look at the context of the game, if you look at the tournament, the pressure, the way we handled the pressure, this was definitely very much up there in terms of the performance, fabulous performance,” Mhambrey said on Tuesday.

“I thought in a game like this, especially when you have so much pressure in terms of the high intensity game, obviously the game against Pakistan is always going to be high intensity, whatever you say, it’s never going to be a normal game. When you’re batting you expect a situation where we were nicely placed to get more runs. But especially when that doesn’t happen, you know you’re defending low scores. And the only way out there is to go and bowl at your best. I think in that context, to be able to defend that score on a wicket which definitely got better was phenomenal,” Mhambrey said.

Mhambrey hailed the collective bowling effort of India as the bowlers were able to keep the opposition at bay.

 “Every individual up there did his job. That’s what we expect at this level. But everything coming together is also important. All the bowlers, the game plan came in. I think we executed our plans very well. And when that happens, the victory is sweet,” Mhambrey (51), who featured in two Tests and three ODIs, said.

India will next take on the USA at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York on Wednesday.