'Not putting up a fight, not showing intent to win is just poor' - Shahid Afridi dissects Pakistan's embarrassing loss against India

From struggling top-order to the middle-order conundrum and bowling woes, things appear falling in the right places for India ahead of the eagerly-awaited ODI World Cup. India decimated Pakistan by a massive margin of 228 runs during the rain-hit (two-day) contest of the Super Four clash of Asia Cup to offer arch-rivals a few sleepless nights. As India looked spotless in all departments of the game, the Men in Green looked toothless in a bid to avoid the landslide defeat.

Talking about the same game, former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi heavily criticized the Men in Green and stated that winning and losing is all okay unless the intent goes missing, which was the case with Pakistan in their clash against India. 

"Winning/losing is part of competing, but not putting up a fight, not showing intent to win is just poor. Exactly what I was referring to in my previous tweet. India played as #1 on the field, batting & bowling. Congrats @imVkohli on achieving another dream milestone of ODI runs and well-crafted by you and KL Rahul Chin up boys, you can do better than this, next match #PakvsIND," Afridi wrote on his X account.

Winning/losing is part of competing, but not putting up a fight, not showing intent to win is just poor. Exactly what I was referring to in my previous tweet.
India played as #1 on the field, batting & bowling. Congrats @imVkohli on achieving another dream milestone of ODI runs…

— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) September 11, 2023

After calling it right at the toss, nothing really went right for Babar Azam and his men as his decision to let India bat first kept haunting them in the entirety of the game. While Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill's explosive knocks provided the dreamy start to the Indian side, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli owned Colombo with thunderous centuries. Kohli (122* of 94) being at his classic best played an array of shots to entertain the fans whereas Rahul (111* of 106) put quite a full stop to the number four debate in his comeback.

Also check: Most runs in Asia Cup 2023

The immense effectiveness of India's batsmen propelled the side to post a humongous 357-run target for Pakistan. As Pakistan walked down to chase, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj's venomous opening spells didn't leave any room for them to settle even for a moment. This wasn't all before Kuldeep Yadav, in his efforts to wipe off his contemporaries for a World Cup spot, bagged a classy five-for to hand India a colossal win.