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In the aftermath of Pakistan‘s resounding defeat to India in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14, former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik extended a piece of candid advice to the Babar Azam-led Pakistan side.
Demoralizing loss against India
The match saw the much-anticipated showdown between the arch-rivals, India and Pakistan. The encounter, however, turned out to be a one-sided affair, with Team India’s dominant performance resulting in a crushing seven-wicket victory. This defeat left Pakistan yearning for their elusive first win in the 50-over mega event, a quest that still remains unfulfilled.
Dinesh Karthik’s valuable advice to Pakistan
Speaking to Sky Sports, Karthik empathetically urged them to temporarily distance themselves from social media platforms in anticipation of the inevitable wave of online criticism.
“It’s going to be hard two three days. I can promise you that they walk through airports like just what, Morgs said. There’ll be a lot of notifications coming in and most of it negative at this point of time. Ideally, if I was there, I wouldn’t look at the phone for a couple of days. That’s a start,”
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A need for resilience
Karthik’s advice was grounded in the belief that while Pakistan couldn’t compete with India on that particular day, they had previously secured victories in their initial two matches of the tournament. The 38-year-old emphasized the importance of maintaining composure to steer clear of further upsets in the competition, acknowledging the long journey still ahead for Pakistan in the tournament.
“Now, how do you deal with a loss like this? Because psychologically it is a bit of a blow. It’s one thing to compete and lose. Like when they lost against India in Melbourne in T20 a year ago, that is acceptable. They fought right to the end, India with a better team and they just picked them at the post. But today they didn’t compete,” the wicketkeeper batter turned commentator added.
“They already have two wins and it is okay among the top ranked teams to lose one. What you don’t want to be doing is lose two on the bounce or get upset by one of the smaller teams. That will put a lot of people into your dreams, especially when it comes to the top four. They’re a good team. There is no doubt about it. They’re a team which has a good bowling attack. The are a team, which has a good batting unit as well. It’s about coming together, practising the right way and most importantly, believing in the same belief that they had at the start of the tournament and not change things midway,” the Chennai-born concluded.
