Indian commentator highlights ‘confidence issue’ with Green Shirts ahead of Pak vs India clash

As the cricket world’s one of the tense face-offs is set to take place between India and Pakistan at New York’s Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, Sunday, a famous journalist and commentator Harsha Bhogle outlined the reasons for the former’s dominance in the clash saying, “they [Pakistan] stopped believing in themselves”. 

The 62-year-old journalist while speaking with Cricbuzz said that after having a great team in the past, Pakistan went through a phase where they stopped believing that they could win against India. 

Bhogle also added that there was always one player who was performing from the Indian side since 2010 whenever they beat Pakistan and that was Virat Kohli.

“I think sometimes, especially people of my generation, who have seen some great Pakistan teams pulling off matches, we always tend to rate them higher than people of a younger generation,” Bhogle said.

“But I think they [Pakistan] went through a phase where they were in a bit of awe, they genuinely did not believe that they could win,” Bhogle told Cricbuzz.

“If you look at all their matches from 2010 onwards, you’ll find there is one common factor every time India beats Pakistan and I think they were in awe of that player, there is always one player who’s always there when India beat Pakistan and that is Virat Kohli. I think they were in a bit of awe of Kohli,” he added.

It is worth mentioning that Pakistan and India have locked horns in T20 World seven times and the Blues boast a formidable record of six victories.

The Green Shirts only managed to beat India in the 2021 T20 World Cup as they dominated the arch-rivals and recorded a historic 10-wicket win as Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam chased down the 152-run without losing a wicket in 17.5 overs.

Earlier, Pakistan lost to the United States in their T20 World Cup opener after a thrilling Super Over as they struggled greatly with the bat.

Mohammad Amir took the ball in the Super Over and the USA concluded their innings 18-1 in reply, the Men in Green could only score 13-1 and ended up losing the match by five runs.

The loss has put Pakistan at a crossroads and the game against India is of significant importance as a loss in New York today would greatly put their chances of qualifying for Super Eight in danger.