Pakistan coach reveals the team’s dressing room atmosphere after 61-run defeat

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson has revealed the post-match dressing room scenes in the Pakistan camp after their 61-run defeat to India in the marquee clash on Sunday, February 15, in Colombo.

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Speaking in the post-match press conference, Hesson disclosed that all the players were pretty disappointed with the way they approached the chase. Notably, Pakistan entered the game against India after registering five consecutive wins in the format. 

"There's a pretty disappointed dressing room in there at the moment, because they know how much it means to Pakistan. We know that it's a huge event, Pakistan against India. We obviously won five games on the bounce before today, so we were confident, but today we got outplayed," Hesson said in the post-match press conference.

Furthermore, Hesson also defended the team’s decision to bowl first on a tough Colombo wicket. Delving into the details of the game, Pakistan tasked India to bat first. They posted a good-looking total of 175/7 on a tricky wicket, thanks to Ishan Kishan, who scored a 77-run knock off 40 balls. 

In the chase, Pakistan got bundled out for 114 runs in 18 overs. Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, and Varun Chakravarthy picked up two wickets each as Pakistan suffered a 61-run loss.

"I think the ball was spinning quite a lot initially and we started off well but I think the way Kishan played, he took the game away from us. We have to pick ourselves up and make sure that we're very good in two or three days," he added.

"We have played some good cricket in the lead-up to this World Cup, so we're confident to do well in the tournament,” he concluded.

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Pakistan will take on Namibia in their fourth group stage clash on Wednesday, February 18, at the SSC Stadium in Colombo.

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