Psychological pressure on Pakistan team has let them down against India in World Cups, opines Waqar Younis
An integral part of the 2003 World Cup setup, Waqar Younis has pointed out to psychological pressure being the factor that has haunted Pakistan against India in the World Cups. However, he was quick to point out that India were in a far better frame of mind and played better cricket every time.
India’s rivalry with Pakistan is a rather strange one, with both the sides just clashing against each other at the global stage, owing to the political tensions between the two countries. However, whenever they have met each other at the World Cup, it has been the Indian side which has come out unscathed. Even in the last encounter at the 2019 World Cup, Pakistan allowed India to get to a total of 336 after having won the toss. In the second innings, Pakistan's collapse combined with India's brilliant on-field display led them to an 89-run victory under the DLS method.
Talking about the rivalry in the big tournament, Waqar Younis has put Pakistan’s loss down to the psychological pressure that has been induced on them which has let them down against India. The former Pakistan pacer pointed out several examples of World Cup encounters, where Pakistan have been in winning positions before squandering their chances against the Men in Blue.
“We did not play smartly; we had games in our hands. If you look at the World Cup in 2011 and then of course back in ’96 also we had the game in our hand, but it is just, we… we just threw it away. It is hard to pinpoint why we do that, maybe, it’s just the pressure of the World Cup now because it happens so many times, it is just the psychological pressure on us that we just cannot really win against them but yeah, it’s very very difficult to pinpoint on one thing,” he said on the @GloFansOfficial twitter handle.
However, he was quick as well to accept that India were a far better side in a positive state of mind in the clash with the Men in Green, having played better cricket. Yet, he also opined that Pakistan have outdone their Asian counterparts in the longest format, with India having won the last series 1-0 in 2007-08.
“Over the last few World Cups, Pakistan have not won against India. We did well in other formats, we did well in Test matches, but when it comes to World Cups and ODI Cricket, India has always had an upper hand on us. And they deserve it. I think they played better cricket than us,” said Waqar.
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