Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has expressed his disappointment over the way India played against England on Sunday. England beat India by 31 runs in the crucial clash to keep their semifinal hopes alive and put Pakistan on the brink of elimination. A win for India would have kept very much on track for the semifinals.
However, with England winning the game, Pakistan do not have their destiny in their hands anymore. Even if Pakistan win their remaining one league game, they are not assured of a place in the last four. Since the defeat to England, people from Pakistan or related to them have criticised India, saying that the Men in Blue did not put up their best performance.
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England smashed Indian bowlers all around the park early on before Mohammed Shami‘s five-wicket haul helped them restrict the hosts to 337. In reply, India were well on their way of chasing down the total with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli scoring a century and a fifty respectively. However, with the passage of time the pitch became slower and thus the shot-making became tough. India still managed to cross the 300-run mark and finished on 306.
But the performance was not enough to impress Mickey Arthur as he lamented India’s failure to get up.
“How India played against England that’s an issue which we can’t control. Obviously I was following the game intently and was disappointed that India did not get up because that would have opened the door for us,” said Mickey Arthur.
India, meanwhile, sealed the spot in the semifinals with a win over Bangladesh on Tuesday. The Men in Blue beat the Tigers by 28 runs to become the second team to enter the last four after Australia.
Mickey Arthur further rued Pakistan’s loss to West Indies at the start of the competition. He said that the loss against West Indies is hurting the team now.
“When we look back in the tournament the thing that really haunts me is the defeat against the West Indies. That was the game, right at the start of the tournament. We should have fired right at the start but we didn’t and it hurts now,” he said.