Salman Butt: “I had suggested prior to the much-hyped match against India that Pakistan should have batted first in either case”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt believes that captain Sarfraz Ahmed’s decision to bowl first was the major mistake the men in green made in their World Cup clash against India.

Sarfraz’s decision to bowl proved disastrous as India posted a mammoth score of 336/5 behind opener Rohit Sharma’s 140 and captain Virat Kohli’s 77.

In response, Pakistan struggled to keep up with the required run rate and lost wickets at crucial moments in the match.

As a result, they ended up losing to India by 89 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.

India’s victory extended their unbeaten streak against Pakistan as they have now won all seven of their meetings against their arch-rivals in the World Cup.

To make matters worse, Pakistan have now only won one of the five World Cup games they have played.

“I had suggested prior to the much-hyped match against India that Pakistan should have batted first in either case,” Salman told The Nation. “If they had won the toss, they must have not given India an opportunity to bat first as it would have been a suicidal attempt for [the men in green].

“When Pakistan played with two spinners, it was clear that they would defend [their] total, but to surprise of many, they didn’t and [put] India [in their] comfort zone.

“Had the Pakistani batsmen batted sensibly and tried to play [all the] overs, things could have been much different. Anyways, now it is history.”

Pakistan’s next World Cup match will be against South Africa at Lord’s on Sunday.

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