Pakistan’s comedy of errors (misfields from their fielders in crunch moments and extras in the Super Over) in their shock defeat to T20 World Cup debutants USA on Thursday may have led to an avalanche of memes on social media, but former Indian batsman Robin Uthappa has warned Rohit Sharma’s men of the danger posed by their unpredictable rivals in the big clash on Sunday.
Uthappa, a key member of the Indian team which won the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007, says Pakistan will draw inspiration from the past to bounce back with a win against India in New York.
“Pakistan is a very unpredictable side. We have seen that often (in the past) that after they suffer a shock defeat against a small team (in a World Cup) they bounce back with a win against a proper team,” Uthappa said during a press conference in Dubai.
“In fact, I predicted in the recent (Ravichandran) Ashwin’s (YouTube) show that some team would upset Pakistan (in this tournament at some stage) but it happened in their first game,” he said.
“We have seen that in so many World Cups, they would see them lose a game to a small team, then they bounce back at the back end of the tournament. They are a very dangerous team.”
Pakistan, which lost their first two matches in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup in Australia, including a shock defeat to Zimbabwe, ended up reaching the final where they lost a hard-fought battle against England.
Now the presence of veteran South African coach Gary Kirsten in the dugout is also going to make a difference for Pakistan, according to Uthappa.
“India will slightly feel the pressure because Pakistan would look to come back very strongly. They have a solid bowling attack, I always believe that batters win you matches, but bowlers win you tournaments. I am sure their egos are hurt by that loss (to the USA), their fast-bowling unit is a solid fast bowling unit,” he said.
“And to see someone like Gary Kirsten coaching that side, they will have a different approach to managing that loss. They will probably have a very different approach tomorrow. I won’t write them off.”
What also cannot be written off is the drop-in pitch at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York which has offered steep bounce and movement for pace bowlers.
Uthappa, who is commentating on the World Cup for two Dubai radio stations, Talk 100.3 FM and Big 106.2, expects another low-scoring game in New York.
“It’s going to be very hard for the batters, both the teams have very high-quality fast bowling attacks. It’s a very hard wicket to bat on, it’s a very hard wicket to score runs,” said Uthappa who won two IPL titles with Kolkata Knight Riders (2014) and Chennai Super Kings (2021).
“It’s not going to be like an IPL game where you saw so many 220-250 scores recently. I think 140-150 is going to be a match-winning score on Sunday.”
Uthappa, who won the Orange Cap for being the top scorer in the 2014 IPL, says batters have to adopt a conservative approach on the New York pitch.
“It’s going to be interesting to see the approach from the batters, but you have to play your cricket the way the wicket allows you to play. On this wicket, it’s not going to be easy to go after the bowlers,” he said.
“You have to build the innings and consolidate it to try and help the team get a decent score.
“Also in the USA match, Saurabh Netravalkar made fewer mistakes in the Super Over (than Mohammad Amir), he handled the pressure better. So that’s going to be key on Sunday as well. The team whose bowlers will handle the pressure well, will win the match.”