When Giants Play, Minnows Get Crushed—Pakistan's Painful Lesson in Colombo
It was billed as a classic Indo-Pak showdown. But by the end of it, only one team had shown up to play cricket. The other seemed like it got lost somewhere between team selection and actual strategy.
Pakistan’s eleven against India looked more like a “B” team experiment than a squad for one of the sport’s biggest rivalries. Eight players from their XI had never faced India before. That’s not just inexperience—that’s poor planning. In a match that demands temperament, not just talent, Pakistan walked in with neither.
To make things worse, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were dropped. While both may have been struggling for form, they at least had the experience of facing India in high-pressure games. Replacing them with first-timers in a marquee Asia Cup clash? A move that aged like milk.
The batting card read like a comedy script. Only two of Pakistan’s top seven reached double digits. Their top scorer, Sahibzada Farhan, crawled to 40 off 44 balls. In a T20I. Against India. At a strike rate that might’ve made sense in 2003. The only player with any real urgency? Shaheen Afridi—yes, the fast bowler—who ended up with the highest strike rate in the innings.
And let’s not pretend the bowling was any better. India chased the target with ease, losing just three wickets—all taken not by the main bowlers, but by part-time spinner Saim Ayub. Shaheen, Nawaz, and Faheem? Wicketless. Faheem didn’t even get to bowl.
Pakistan weren’t just outplayed. They were outclassed, outthought, and frankly, out of their depth.
India didn’t need brilliance—they just needed basics. Pakistan, on the other hand, might need a rebuild. Or at least a mirror.
Because if you walk into a storm with an umbrella made of paper, don’t act surprised when you get blown away.
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