Pak committed too many blunders: Former players
New Delhi: Former skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes India were superior to Pakistan in every aspect of the game during their World Cup win in Adelaide but said they need to work more on their bowling and fielding before they take on title-contenders such as Australia and New Zealand.
“Australian have been in tremendous form and the way they played against England in the opening match is an indication as how confident they are, so they are the team to beat and also New Zealand,” Gavaskar told NDTV.
“But India again has to look at their bowling. While they have done well, there are areas where they need to tighten up a little bit and if they can do that they will be able to restrict the opposition. But overall it was a satisfying performance today. They were superior to Pakistan in every aspect of the game,” he said.
Talking about India’s fielding, Gavaskar said: “India has a very good fielding unit when they are not trying to be flamboyant, when they are not trying to just throw at stumps for no rhythm and reasons. So that’s an area where they have to look into because it can upset the bowler as at the end of the day it reflects on bowlers’ figures. Otherwise, India has a good fielding side.”
Ian Chappell, who had captained Australia between 1971 and 1975, was happy with India’s performance but said they still need to prove that they can bowl under-fire against big teams.
Meanwhile, crediting India’s emphatic win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the World Cup to Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s mature captaincy, cricket legend Kapil Dev said the Indian skipper used his experience really well and was spot on with field placements.
“This Pakistan team lacks maturity but we seem to have that going for us. Especially, the captain today. Dhoni played his role of skipper really well,” Kapil said.
Former Pakistan cricketers lashed out at the team for lack of planning and strategy after it went down to arch-rivals India by 76 runs in its cricket World Cup opening match at the Adelaide Oval.
Batting great Zaheer Abbas pointed out that Pakistan committed too many mistakes on the field and also while selecting the team and felt that the players were not trying to learn from their previous blunders.
“Pakistan committed too many mistakes. Younis Khan should not have been sent as an opener and they should not have dropped Sarfraz Ahmed and made Umar Akmal keep wickets,” he said.
“There was no proper planning. We made so many mistakes. Our captain did blunders. Sending Younis to open the innings was a big blunder and using Umar as a wicketkeeper was another. Moreover, we dropped so many catches.
“Last World also we dropped so many catches. When do we learn?,” asked Abbas during a panel discussion in ‘CNN-IBN’.
They are playing cricket throughout the year, what is stopping them from learning,” he added.
Abbas also felt that Pakistani batsmen did not do their job well.
“Pakistani batsmen couldn’t score. Under pressure, they simply played bad shots,” he insisted.
Spin great Saqlain Mushtaq said Pakistan team lacked genuine openers and a wicketkeeper.
“Our strategy was not right. Although I agree that sending Younis Khan as an opener was country’s requirement but we surely lack a genuine opener and a genuine wicket-keeper,” said Saqlain.
Meanwhile, another former Pakistan cricketer Mohsin Khan came down heavily on the country’s Cricket Board, saying that the management is responsible for team’s dismal showing.