Former Australian opener and current Pakistan batting consultant, Matthew Hayden, believes that Pakistan defeated India due to their superior fast bowling unit as Indian batters could not handle the pace of Shaheen Afridi and his fellow fast bowlers.
Hayden said that Indian batters are used to facing bowlers who bowl at around 130 km/h and facing someone with the express pace and accuracy of Shaheen Afridi troubled them. Hayden said that during his spell as a commentator in the Indian Premier League (IPL), he noticed that there are only a handful of Indian pacers that bowl in excess of 140 km/h which has had an impact on Indian batters as they are not used to facing express pace.
“They (the Indian batters) had been facing 130km/h deliveries for the last month during the IPL. It’s a different cup of tea when you are facing someone running and bowling at Shaheen Shah Afridi’s pace,” Hayden said while talking on Fox Sports Australia.
Former opener showered praises on Shaheen’s exceptional deliveries to dismiss Indian opening batters, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. Hayden said that these were the best deliveries he has seen in the last five weeks he has been in UAE since the resumption of IPL.
“I don’t think I have not seen the ball hitting Rahul’s middle of the bat in five weeks and then he gets that delivery. That was like the two punch combination that sent India on the backfoot in the powerplay,” Hayden added.
Pakistan created history by defeating India for the first time in World Cup history. They registered a ten-wicket victory over their arch-rivals before defeating New Zealand in their second encounter to go to the top of Group B in the T20 World Cup points table.
