New Delhi: Pakistan’s former cricket captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has said that the Indian team was scared and under pressure in the T20 World Cup 2021 match against Pakistan and it was clearly visible during the toss between Babar Azam and Virat Kohli, who was more under pressure.
“I feel the Indians were scared even before the match started. Their body language, if you see Virat Kohli and Babar Azam’s interview at the toss, you could sense who was under pressure,” Inzamam told ARY Sports.
“Our team’s body language was much better than theirs. It wasn’t that India were under pressure after Rohit Sharma’s dismissal. Sharma himself was under pressure. It was evident that they all were under pressure even before the match began,” he stated.
Inzamam said that India were title contenders from the beginning, but extreme pressure got the better of them.
“Indian team never plays the way they did. They are a good T20 team, there is no doubt about it. If you look at their performance in the last 2-3 years, they were the favourites. But that India-Pakistan match put so much pressure on them that there was no looking back,” he said.
“Their feet weren’t moving at all. After losing to Pakistan, they were handed so much criticism and there was a 3-4 days’ break. The poor guys couldn’t even play Santner and Sodhi. They are such good players of spin,” Inzamam added.
Pakistan defeated India by 10 wickets in the T20 World Cup to register their maiden World Cup win over their Asian opponents. Babar and Mohammad Rizwan stitched together a 152-run stand for the opening wicket to take Pakistan home with utmost ease. After losing to Pakistan, India lost by eight wickets to New Zealand at the same venue in Dubai. India beat Scotland, Namibia, and Afghanistan to win three games in a row, but failed to qualify for the semi-finals. The tournament was also Virat Kohli’s last as the skipper of India’s T20I team.