Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi credited India for their commanding show while saddened by the abject surrender of Pakistani team and said the defending champions lived up to the favourites tag in their Champions Trophy opener. He said his country's drab show on Sunday took away all the excitement from what was expected to be a high-voltage Group B encounter.
"The Indo-Pak Champions Trophy encounter failed to live up to its hype as Pakistan produced a forgettable performance at Edgbaston. As a Pakistani supporter, the drab show was a painful watch indeed as India once again proved that it has a stranglehold over its neighbour that it is in no mood to relinquish," Afridi wrote in a column for the ICC.
"India started as the favourite and played the entire game in the same frame of mind, even as Pakistan crumbled simply." Analysing the match, Afridi said India came hard on skipper Sarfraz Ahmed's shoddy game plan. Afridi said Pakistan had allowed Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan to settle down and once that happened, it was difficult to stop the duo. "While the Indian openers negotiated Amir carefully, they gradually got their eye in against Imad. Pakistan missed a trick and for the rest of the Indian innings there was hardly a period where they looked troubled. "Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh then flayed a tiring attack before Hardik Pandya's cameo turned the match totally in the defending champion's favour," Afridi added. Afridi also came hard on Pakistan's shoddy fielding effort.
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