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India lost their T20 World Cup opener to Pakistan because their players were under pressure even before the toss, Pakistan's most capped player Inzamam-ul Haq has said.
“When I saw Virat Kohli and Babar Azam at the toss it was evident the Indians were under a lot of pressure,” said Inzamam, on a Pakistani news channel.
The former batsman even used the word “scared” while noting that India were under pressure even before Shaheen Shah Afridi had dismissed Rohit Sharma and K L Rahul.
“They came into the match under a lot of pressure and that is why they lost by 10 wickets. You could see they were apprehensive by their body language whereas the Pakistan players were much more confident and upbeat about winning the match,” he added.
It was the first time that Pakistan beat India in a World Cup match. Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan shared an unbroken opening stand to set up the 10-wicket win.
Inzamam said he was surprised to see the Indians play the way they did against Pakistan and New Zealand.
“India have a very good T20 squad and depth of talent. If you look at their performances in recent times they were rightly favourites with England to win the title. But they didn't even make the semi-finals because the way they played against us and New Zealand is not their style,” he said.
He also felt that the demoralising loss to Pakistan in the first match only added to the woes of the Indian team and it never recovered from it.
“I think the match with Pakistan put too much pressure on them. I don't know because they have always done well against us in World Cup matches."
Inzamam also felt that the win over India was a big boost to the Pakistan team and cricket as the players were now more confident about their abilities.