Apart from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, others cannot handle pressure: Pakistan batter slams Indian players

Former Pakistan player Mohammad Hafeez feels apart from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, Team India do not have players who can handle the pressure of an India-Pakistan game. 

In an interview to Sports Tak, he said that India’s body language was not the same as earlier after they lost the first game to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2021. 

He said, “Both teams have pressure. I’ve played many India-Pakistan games, and when you lose the first match, it always has an impact. When we won the first match, you could see that India’s body language wasn’t the same anymore. Because the amount of pressure a player bears is huge, and if you fail to win, it gets very difficult.”

India had a terrible outing the in T20 World Cup held in UAE. They lost first two games to Pakistan and New Zealand and were virtually knocked out.

“Personally, I feel Pakistan is growing high. In India, Virat and Rohit Sharma are two players who can touch par runs when they play. I’m not trying to say that others are not good. But if these two players don’t play well in an India-Pakistan game, the others cannot handle that pressure,” said Hafeez.

Indian cricket is going through a sudden transition with Virat Kohli quitting captaincy in Test cricket. With that move, he will no more lead an Indian team in any format. 

He had quit T20I captaincy four months ago and in December, he was sacked as ODI captain. India’s white-ball performance has suffered in the past. On Friday (January 21), India lost another bilateral series against South Africa with the defeat in 2nd ODI. 

One of the crucial factors in the loss was the lack of form of Kohli in the limited overs and the absence of Rohit Sharma. This raises question on whether India have the players who can do the job when Kohli and Rohit are not firing.