Pakistan once again succumbed to pressure against India when the teams locked horns for the Asia Cup group clash in Dubai on Sunday night.
Despite coming into the match after a tri-nation series win at the same venue and a big win against Oman in the tournament opener, Pakistan's batting order collapsed like a deck of cards in their 7-wicket loss against India's bowlers.
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Early wickets put the team under pressure and they were reeling at before Shaheen Afridi's late cameo of 33*(16) took them to a respectable 127 total in the first innings.
The target was chased by India comfortably under 16 overs as former captain and coach Misbah-ul-Haq expressed his disappointment and called out the lack of planning from the Pakistan players.
Misbah-ul-Haq left disappointed by Pakistan's loss to India
While reviewing the match with Tapmad, Misbah shared his insight on the technical and mental flaws in Pakistan's batting order, which did not step up in the big game against India.
Citing their sixth consecutive loss across formats since 2022, he felt Pakistan's poor start to the match, including Saim Ayub's second consecutive golden duck, put them on the back foot early in the match. They went in the shell with the bat, followed by an expensive start with the ball.
"It [the difference between the two teams] is a combination of everything — skill, mindset, strategy, quality of players. Firstly, when you face a top-quality side, your technique and mentality are challenged. You cannot execute your plans if you are not mentally strong enough.
"There are two types of strategies — a team plan and then your individual plan. You are alone at the crease eventually and nobody can help you in the moment. You have to assess your plans, you have to know which bowler you need to target and how you bat against a particular spinner or a pacer — all those things were exposed," he further added.
The 51-year-old particularly observed opener Sahibzada Farhan's knock of 40(44) and called out his foot movement. He explained how the opener got stuck inside the crease and discussed how he needs to improve on swinging deliveries as an opener after Farhan was troubled by both Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya.
While Farhan became the first Pakistan batter to hit a six against Bumrah, his strike rate under 100 put pressure on his partners. The inning cost the team heavily as they could only post a below par score of 127.
Next, Pakistan will face UAE in their final Group A encounter on September 17 at the same venue. A win would take them to the Super Fours alongside India from the group.