Kaif takes Shoaib Akhtar to the cleaners, refuses to let him undermine India’s dominance: 'Had Pakistan won...'

Mohammed Kaif voiced his disappointment regarding how Pakistan's lack of quality dominated the narrative around the India-Pakistan match.

After a 61-run loss to arch-rivals India, it is easy to see why Pakistan’s lack of bite and inability to stick with the defending world champions has dominated the narrative of the T20 World Cup. It is true that Pakistan were simply multiple levels off the quality India bring to the table, particularly with bat in hand – but India’s own quality has arguably taken a backseat given Pakistan’s miserable performance while being bowled out for 114.

Suryakumar Yadav reacts as Pakistan player Usman Tariq bats. (PTI)

This was something that frustrated former Indian international Mohammed Kaif, who voiced his umbrage at pundits and analysts solely levelling the loss at Pakistan’s feet. Kaif spoke about how India were also performing under immense pressure and had their own problems, but didn’t receive the credit for putting on a show in those circumstances.

Speaking on ABP News, Kaif took aim at Shoaib Akhtar for dominating the narrative with Pakistan’s troubles instead of India’s skill.

“Ever since we started the show I’m not happy, because you have been saying the Pakistan team is anyway weak, is an unenergetic team. If that team had won today, then 100% Shoaib Akhtar would be saying right now that BCCI is prideful, that the players had too much ego.” argued Kaid.

“I want to say that by showing Pakistan as weak, you are taking away India’s excellence. You have just been showing that Pakistan is in trouble, that there’s no system, but what does that matter for India?” he continued.

‘How much pressure Ishan Kishan had on him…’

Kaif made a point regarding how much pressure player of the match Ishan Kishan would have been under while playing in such a high profile game, and still managing to smash 77(40) in one of the great India-Pakistan knocks, given the surface.

“We are talking about India, the Indian captain, Ishan Kishan who has played against Pakistan for the first time – how much pressure he must have on him, we aren’t talking about that. Give India’s players the credit because they are playing in a circumstance where imagine if they lost, then it would have been an outcry,” Kaif pointed out.

Given the vitriol and the tension surrounding the encounter, Kaif made a salient point regarding how the Indian players went into every match against Pakistan with the knowledge that a loss would force heads on spikes – not dissimilar to the 2021 World Cup loss, which had disastrous consequences for some players.

“You would say Suryakumar Yadav isn’t shaking hands and now the team has lost, they think they are so brave. Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, all would have been on trial if they lost this match today,” stated Kaif.

India will always remain in the conversation with their skill and ability, with results like these against top teams only proving their immense talent and know-how of the game at the highest level. Now through to the Super 8, Suryakumar and co. will only have more chances of proving their skill and ability against the strongest opposition.