T20 World Cup 2021: VVS Laxman highlights lessons India could take from defeat against Pakistan

Team India suffered a shambolic 10-wicket defeat against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday (October 24), their first-ever defeat in the World Cup in 29 years.

Speaking exclusively on Star Sports show Follow The Blues, the former India batter said the team's focus should be on batting well in the powerplay and not losing too many wickets.

"I think the three important lessons from this match would be not to lose wickets early on, especially in the powerplay. That's very critical, you want to capitalise on the powerplay and make use of the fielding restrictions.

"The second lesson is, like batting, you don't want to lose wickets and while bowling you are required to pick up wickets and that's very critical, especially if you're defending a par score or probably a below-par score. The third thing will be the length of the bowlers, when you're looking to pick up wickets it's important to use your variations. But, I just felt that the bowlers bowled a bit short and they didn't bowl to the conditions which were on offer," Laxman said.

Former India cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar hailed India captain Virat Kohli's knock against Pakistan and termed it as terrific. Kohli slammed a gritty 57 and was the lone warrior from India's batting after Pakistan left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi dismissed openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma in a gap of 10 deliveries in the powerplay.

Lauding Kohli's batting, Gavaskar said, "It was a terrific innings because India had lost their openers in the powerplay itself, so there was a greater sense of responsibility on Kohli's shoulders because he now had to pace the innings he thought to repair the innings and also get India to a total which they could hope to defend. So, the way he paced his innings, the way he chose the shots to break free at times and the six that he hit off Shaheen Afridi. Absolutely amazing talent."

Speaking on the show further, the legendary batsman praised Shaheen Afridi's bowling and also shed light on how Kohli was able to play the pacer, "The way Shaheen Afridi was bowling, he was mixing it up quite well, he was angling the ball across the right hand and he was getting the ball to turn back in after pitching, not so much in the air because you don't get that much help in the UAE. That's why it was important for Kohli to try and step out so that he would be able to then negate the amount of swing that Shaheen Afridi was getting and that's how he was able to negotiate that and score runs off Shaheen Afridi."

ICC T20 World Cup 2021 Predictions

Match 18 - October 26 2021, 03:30 PM

South Africa

West Indies

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