Pakistan will have to really wait for some more time to beat India in a World Cup match.
Their best chance came and went on Sunday and I don’t think Pakistan will get one more like this quickly.
India had lost against Australia, literally got thrashed and were on the verge of getting knocked out in the second game of Super Eights.
The Indian team was not in the best frame of mind, as one could make out from the reports coming out from the camp. In such a scenario Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat. For me the game turned from there on.
India’s weak point is their bowling. If you set a target of even 175 they have the batting power to chase it down.
But if you ask them to set a target they are bound to have some dilemma. India would have definitely had in mind that Pakistan had chased down 186 against them few days back.
So in trying to search for a safe target there would have been some extra urgency in the minds of the Indian batters.
What happened was the other way around. Pakistan batted first, started in a whirlwind fashion and the moment they lost two wickets pressure returned to them and that too in the form of captain getting bogged down.
When the captain is opening and he himself is going into a shell then the pressure percolates down. In this sort of matches the main players of a team have to stand-up and deliver.
This is one more area where Pakistan fell behind. India had in their ranks many senior players like Dhoni, Sehwag, Zaheer, Yuvraj, Gambhir, who knew what it is to handle pressure at this level.