Ahead of the hugely-awaited clash between the India and Pakistan, former Pakistan captain Salman Butt did a harsh analysis of the Men In Blue, saying they crumble under pressure. Butt said that India are heavily reliant on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and when these two wickets fall, India more often than not, lose the matches. Butt said that Pakistan have a balanced side that consists of bowlers whoc can rack up up to 90 mph deliveries consistently. “We have bowlers who can bowl at 90mph, only one or two can touch 90mph, others don’t have that much pace. This is an added advantage. We have both type of spinners, fast bowling all-rounder, and he too touches 140kph,” Butt was speaking on his YouTube channel.
The veteran of 33 Tests said that India have fitness concerns in fast bowling department as well. He said that players have been unfit for a long time and it will be challenge for them. “If we look at India’s fast bowling, fitness is a concern. Players have been unfit for a long time, we don’t know if they are fragile, will they go full throttle. Apart from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, they have youngsters, who have played plenty of cricket but they don’t have that much of experience,” said Butt.
Salman’s most brutal criticism was that India don’t have players who can handle pressure nowadays. He said that they play high-pressured matches in Indian Premier League but international cricket is a different ball-game and it reflects too in their performances. “There are plenty of expectations from India, hence the pressure is more. And since India have not played against Pakistan for a long time for whatever reasons, their players no matter how much IPL they’ve played, they don’t have the experience of playing in such high-voltage clash. Chahe subah, dopahar, sham IPL khel le (no matter how much you play in the IPL) it does not bring the same pressure, which is during India-Pakistan series,” he said.
India have at leats 4 cricketers who are either coming back from injury or are still on the path to full match fitness. They are Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna. Iyer, Bumrah are likely to play the Pakistan match but like Krishna, they have not played any ODI for quite some time now. Rahul, at the same time, will take some time to be fully fit and will miss the first two games of Asia Cup 2023.