India vs Pakistan World T20: Pakistan team player ratings

India faced Pakistan at a jam-packed Eden Gardens in an 18 over a side match, thanks to some rain and storm in the World T20 2016. MS Dhoni won the toss and put Pakistan into bat first on a pitch that was very similar to the one at Nagpur.

Pakistan found it hard to score runs on this pitch where ball gripped the surface and spun from ball one. Ashwin and Jadeja turned the ball miles and the Pakistani batsmen only opened their game after 11^th over when both Pandya and Bumrah went for some runs.

India, however, got over another spirited bowling performance by Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Sami, but the lack of a quality spinner in the Pakistani side apart from Shahid Afridi hurt them badly and India won by 6 wickets and kept their streak alive.

Sharjeel Khan- 4/10

Sharjeel continued to look good but in patches. The two boundaries hit by him were beautiful, but otherwise, he struggled to hit the ball with proper timing. His 17 runs off 24 balls were laborious and it seemed a good thing for Pakistan when he was brilliantly caught by Hardik Pandya off the bowling of Suresh Raina.

Ahmed Shehzad- 6/10

Ahmed Shehzad who made an attacking 50 against Bangladesh, looked good here once again, cracking some brilliant boundaries and looking at ease on a difficult pitch. Though he was troubled by some deliveries of Ashwin, generally he looked good until he lost his wicket trying to up the ante and gave a catch to Jadeja off the bowling off Bumrah for 25 runs.

Shahid Afridi- 5/10

Shahid Afridi promoted himself to the number 3 position in order to make up for the falling run rate but couldn’t do much and holed out to Kohli for 8 off the bowling of Hardik Pandya. With the ball, he was economical giving away just 25 runs off his 4 overs, but couldn’t have the impact that the Indian spinners had with the ball and went wicketless.

Umar Akmal- 7/10

One of the few bright spots in the Pakistani innings was the partnership between Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik. Akmal especially took it upon himself to increase the run rate and made an effective 22 off just 16 balls.

Shoaib Malik- 7/10

Pakistan should be thankful to Shoaib Malik because it was because of him that Pakistan crossed the 100 run mark and reached 118. His 26 off 16 made sure that the Pakistani bowlers had something to bowl at. But he proved to be expensive with the ball giving away 22 runs in 2 overs.

Sarfraz Ahmed- 5/10

Pakistani keeper Sarfraz Ahmed ensured that Pakistan had some sort of total on the board in the 6 balls he faced. His keeping was flawless and overall, he did the best he could in order to help his team win the match.

Mohammad Hafeez- 4/10

Mohammad Hafeez was kept waiting till the end, because of his lack of hitting prowess and he made 5 runs in 5 balls. Since he has been banned from bowling in international cricket, due to an illegal action, Hafeez couldn’t contribute much to Pakistan’s cause in this match.

Mohammad Sami- 7/10

Mohammad Sami’s selection in the team raised a few eyebrows, but his two wickets of Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina off consecutive deliveries had given the team hope of an upset win   since both of these batsmen are in good form and are capable of winning matches on his their own.

Wahab Riaz- 5/10

Wahab Riaz was brought onto bowl only after it was almost all over for Pakistan, but he still picked up the wicket of Yuvraj Singh to give some hope to the Pakistani fans, in spite of the writing on the wall.

Mohammad Amir- 7/10

Once again it was all on Mohammad Amir to save Pakistan from humiliation and he almost did his best. He removed Rohit Sharma, who was looking extremely good and bowled his 3 overs for 11 runs. But why wasn’t he bowled out by Shahid Afridi when Yuvraj and Kolhi were going great guns is a puzzle to be solved by the Mensa people.

Mohammad Irfan- 5/10

The gangly 7 footer Irfan couldn’t do much on this day, despite showing some serious pace on a turning track. He bowled 2.5 overs and gave away 25 runs without looking like taking a wicket.