Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq praises the Indian cricket team as “skilful” with a “powerful bowling lineup” and also revealed the reason for India’s failure in ICC events.
With much expectations around the Indian cricket team, Rohit Sharma will lead the Men in Blue in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 set to play in West Indies and USA next month. Many cricket experts suggest India to strengthen their squad for the result to go in their favour.
Till now, none of the well-known cricket experts have picked India as the winner of the tournament but BCCI secretary Jay Shah revealed his final four teams for the T20 World Cup 2024 semifinals.
Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq comes forward and highlights the reason behind India’s failure in ICC events since 2013.
India has not won any ICC trophies since the 2013 Champions Trophy which India won under MS Dhoni. After being qualified for the finals, India lost the World Test Championship finals on two occasions in the span of three years.
Under Rohit Sharma‘s captaincy, team India finished as runner-up of the ODI World Cup 2023 and qualified for the semifinals of the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Former Pakistan batter credited India’s current pace attack led by Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Mohammed Shami while also praising the quality of Indian cricket.
“It’s a different Indian team now, a skilful team with a very powerful bowling lineup. The batting has always been strong, but the quality of their fast bowling has really elevated their game.
With bowlers like Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, and the all-round abilities of Hardik Pandya, the quality of Indian cricket has increased significantly. Their ability to handle pressure has improved too,” Misbah said during the Star Sports Press Room show.
“Playing so much cricket gives them exposure and boosts their confidence. To break this, opposing teams need to make a lot of effort, which is a difficult task. Look at Australia, for instance. They overcome most of these hurdles with their strong mental attitude. As big matches and pressure situations arise, they manage to stay composed,” he added.
Misbah-ul-Haq highlighted that India lacked behind in finishing the tournament on high despite starting the event well. In the ODI World Cup 2023, Team India made an aggressive start and remained undefeated throughout the tournament but failed to do the same against Australia in the final game.
“In contrast, teams like Pakistan, India, and other Asian teams face immense pressure from their huge populations and high expectations. This pressure can affect performance significantly. It’s something India has struggled with in the last few mega events, where they haven’t been able to finish strong,” Misbah said.
The former Pakistan cricketer added that India and Pakistan need to find solutions to cope with pressure in ICC knockout matches as Australia do.
“For Australia, this isn’t as big of an issue, but for Pakistan and India, playing under such intense pressure is a major challenge. It’s interesting to see how these teams will manage it in the future. India, especially, will need to find ways to overcome this mounting pressure if they want to succeed in upcoming events,” he added.
As per the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 schedule, India will play their first match of the tournament against Ireland on June 5 in Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York.
