India's clash against Pakistan felt like a practice match, say former Indian players

It has been two days since India won a ‘one-sided’ clash against the arch-rivals Pakistan, the intent shown by Men in Blue was absolutely brilliant and by virtue of that, they crushed Pakistan by 124 runs. A great foundation was set up not just by Rohit Sharma but also by someone who enjoys playing Champions Trophy – Shikhar Dhawan.

With a brilliant partnership of 136 runs at the top, it set the tone for the coming batsmen. After the loss of both the openers, it was skipper Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh who made sure that India had an upper hand in the game. With power hitting of Yuvraj and brilliance of Virat India posted a mammoth total of 319 runs on the board.

Team India’s lethal bowling attack made sure that they win their first league stage match. Though proved to be a cakewalk for the Men in Blue as Pakistan put up a disastrous performance.

Expectations were really high and the excitement was on top for fans and former cricketers. Although, former Indian cricketers rejoice the team’s win over Pakistan but were saddened to see that green team fail to turn up at all.

Harbhajan Singh’s say on the clash

With such a difference between the two sides, Harbhajan termed it as a practice game.

He said, “It felt like a practice game to be honest. There wasn’t any competition; Pakistan is not the same side anymore. It will take them, I don’t know what to; get back to what they were about 15 years back. It’s a sad feeling to see where they are going with their cricket. Obviously I’m really happy the way things have gone for India and I’m looking forward to the game against South Africa.”

Ganguly echoed Harbhajan’s sentiments

Having played against some of the greatest cricketers for Pakistan and seeing the passion, fight, hunger and comparing it to Pakistan’s performance in the recent past, Sourav Ganguly said, “It was one-sided and that’s been the case for quite a while now. I can’t remember last 7-8 years there was anything which was competitive. The last competitive game was probably the 2007 World T20 in South Africa which was 10 years ago. You don’t enjoy because you know when you wake up in the morning there’s only one team which is going to win, which is India.”

When asked where Pakistan lost the plot against India, Ganguly added, “Left-arm spinner bowling the second over for Pakistan in English conditions was ridiculous. India didn’t field well and probably gave away more runs than Pakistan, but the pressure of the scoreboard from India was a lot more than that of Pakistan. They dropped Yuvraj at 8, Virat Kohli at 40 and those last four overs they gave 72 runs. When left-arm spinner Imad Wasim was bowling the last over it reminded me of Yuvraj bowling to Dmitri Mascarenhas at The Oval (when he smashed five sixes in a row).

“It was a ridiculous way of going around an important game. You can say that for Sarfraz it’s his first big tournament as captain but then you have played for a while you know exactly what is happening,”

He further went on saying that South Africa will be the toughest opponent for India but even then the defending champions will qualify for semi-finals.

“They will (qualify for semis). It’s like stepping up a ladder – Pakistan, Sri Lanka next and then South Africa who are the toughest which will prepare India for the semi-finals and then the finals,” Ganguly concluded.