Shamik Chakrabarty in Dubai
A comprehensive six-wicket loss to India in a win-or-bust game has put defending champions Pakistan on the brink of Champions Trophy elimination. One expected Mohammad Rizwan to be downbeat. The Pakistan captain must be hurting inside, but at the post-match press conference, he turned into a Virat Kohli fanboy.
Kohli scored a match-winning 100 not out off 111 balls that wowed even his rivals. “First, let’s talk about Virat Kohli,” he told reporters. “I am surprised at his hard work. He must have worked so hard. The world says he is out of form, but he comes to such big matches, which the world is waiting for, and he easily hits the ball — and this is where we don’t want to give him runs. But he plays and gets away from us, and he gets the runs. I will definitely praise his fitness level and hard work, the way he has done it. Because he is a cricketer and we are also cricketers. We tried very hard to get him out, but he took the game away.”
Pakistan have been hosting an ICC event after a gap of 29 years and a group stage exit would be a serious damp squib from their fans’ perspective. Theoretically, they are still there, but Pakistan need a miracle to qualify for the semi-finals now. Other results need to fall in their favour — a New Zealand win against Bangladesh will officially put paid to the hosts’ chances.
Rizwan refused to beat around the bush and accepted that it’s all but over. “For now, we can say that it’s over. This is the truth. In the next match, we will see what Bangladesh do with New Zealand, what New Zealand do with India, and what we do. It’s a long journey,” he said.
Not learning from their mistakes has been affecting Pakistan’s performances. The skipper agreed. “Look, honestly, we made the same mistakes that we have been making in the past four matches,” he said.
Saud Shakeel and Abrar Ahmed, who spoke to reporters in the mixed zone, admitted that the team has let the fans down back home and there’s a need to “start afresh”.