The left-arm paceman was not brought back on by Shahid Afridi until India were nearing victory and the leg-spinning skipper, who lacks the guile to turn the ball effectively, was unable to stem the flow of runs himself.
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The Eden Gardens were rain-hit, and the match was reduced to 18 overs a side. They had a chance to be chasing far less.
Malik said that the nature of the pitch, which began turning sharply from the second over onward, had taken both teams by surprise.
India’s formidable batting line-up, led by the peerless Virat Kohli, gives them a clear edge and should be more than a handful for the Bangladeshi bowlers, who would find it an enormous task to either contain or dismiss the hosts.
“When there is lot of pressure, often individuals, they go for the big shot, thinking it to be the best option at that time”.
“You have your areas and if it is in your area, you have to take the shot”.
“It’s about how you’re converting and about tackling pressure”.
“He is bowling well and you need him batting at number six-seven in case the top order fails”.
How Pakistan could do with that kind of simplicity in their batting. With the all-consuming mission accomplished at the Eden Gardens on Saturday, the second phase in the Super 10 Group 2 campaign of the World T20 starts now. It is not likely to end soon either, with Kohli around.
In the game against Pakistan, Kohli’s innings was characterised by the way he paced it – taking singles and rotating strike when needed while hitting the boundaries and sixes to keep the asking rate in check.
India: Shikhar Dhawan/Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (capt and wk), Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah.
“He understands how he is supposed to bat in different wickets to score runs”. Kohli also reaped the rewards of showing extreme patience and resolve against short of a length deliveries, forcing Afridi to try the fuller approach.
“It was a challenging wicket but you need new challenges, every innings you play”.
Though Bangladesh failed to survive the Indian challenge and lost the tournament final by eight wickets, the morphed photograph seemed to spark the trend of mocking each other on social media.
Shoaib Malik (26) and Umar Akmal (22) added 41 runs in four overs to take Pakistan past the 100-mark and ensure their pace-heavy attack had something to defend. The way the ball spun, I thought it was going to grip. I can not explain that feeling as a youngster who has grown up playing cricket because of him.
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For a side like Pakistan to lose so regularly to India is not enigmatic but a sign how they fail to handle the pressure, be it in ODIs or the T20 format.
