World Cup 2023: We were not up to the mark with the new ball – Babar Azam after huge loss against India

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam admitted they were not up to the mark with the new ball against India after suffering a seven-wicket hammering at the gigantic Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Saturday in front of almost 1,00,000 Indian fans.

Pakistan was put into bat by Rohit Sharma, and the visitors were on course to get to a par score of 300 when they were 155-2. However, that’s when a storm came and the Babar Azam’s men could not find any shelter, getting demolished for only 191, losing their last eight scalps for just 36 in a span of 13 overs.

Babar Azam and in-form Mohammad Rizwan were motoring along but as soon as the former was dismissed after just reaching his maiden ODI fifty against India, Pakistan lost control of the helm after they lost their CAPTAIN.

Azam was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj with a delivery that came back into him whereas Rizwan was flummoxed by a slower ball from Jasprit Bumrah. India came up with a collective bowling show as Siraj, Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Hardik Pandya scalped two wickets each.

On the other hand, Rohit Sharma took Pakistan’s bowling apart as the hosts raced to 79-1 in the Powerplay overs. It looked like Rohit had an early flight to catch to Pune, India’s next venue, as he raced to 86 runs off just 63 balls. The Indian skipper scored half a dozen fours and as many sixes and also got to the milestone of 300 maximums in the 50-over version.

Shreyas Iyer played a confident knock of 53 runs as India made light work of the run-chase of 192 runs with 117 balls to spare.

Babar Azam said in the post-match presentation, “We started well. Good partnership between me and Imam. We wanted to play normal cricket (me and Rizwan). Suddenly we had a collapse and didn’t finish well. The way we started, wanted to target 280-290. With the new ball we are not upto the mark. The way Rohit is playing – he played an outstanding innings.”

Pakistan will next take on Australia at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Friday.