Kohli allowed Bairstow and Jason Roy to slaughter Chahal and Kuldeep in an opening partnership of lethal consequences, in the qualifying stage. And by controlling a calculated defeat at the hands of England, paved the way to India’s lesson-teaching downfall in the semi-finals. All the Indian victories before that defeat at the hands of England became irrelevant. History will never remember how well India played match after match, how impregnable the Indian top order looked, and how Rohit Sharma piled up ‘century after century’. History will only tell about Rahul’s one run, Rohit’s one run and Kohli’s one run when the real consequential test came.
Pakistan remained a laughing stock in the early games, but then fought back to win all its final matches.
It defeated the two semi-finalists New Zealand and England, as well as mighty South Africa which finished a bad tournament with a convincing victory over Australia.
Kohli, beyond doubt, is the world’s best batsman but he was outclassed by Williamson in the area of composure, resilience and self-assurance.
Pakis-tan’s performance deserves high marks, keeping in view the fact that it was led by the least convincing of the ten captains.
Sarfaraz is still a fine keeper, but he has lost confidence in his batting skills, and because of his lack of performance, he does not enjoy commanding influence on the team.
You have to be a Finch or a Williamson, or du Plessis or Eion Morgan to enjoy the respect of those you are leading. Sarfaraz’s best moments in the tournament were two brilliant catches, and one fine stroke.
Now that Micky Arther is passing into history, let Sarfaraz follow the example of the mighty Dhoni who is playing under Kohli and is still a force to reckon with.
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