India-Pakistan matches are always high voltage matches but this time, the Indian team was very good on paper but we lost the match in powerplay itself. Neither our batsmen played a good cricket in the batting powerplay nor the bowlers could get any wickets during this period. In fact, when we lost three wickets in the powerplay, Pakistan had tightened their grip on the match. Although after this, Virat Kohli tried to overcome this crisis by batting brilliantly but he could not get the kind of support that was expected from any batsman except Rishabh Pant.
This is a lesson for Team India which I will discuss sometime later but at the same time I would also say that trust your players. All our 11 players are match winners. In fact, when a team loses, questions arise about the abilities of the players. While it should not be so.
The truth is that we have not been able to perform to the best of our abilities. Questions are also being raised on the absence of the sixth bowler but I think when our frontline bowlers could not perform then why do we raise the question of the option of the sixth bowler. The truth is that both the powerplays were bad and decisive for India.
Saba Karim is a former cricketer who has played 34 ODIs as a wicketkeeper batsman for Team India. Views expressed are his own.