‘Jinx of Defeat’: How Pak Media Reported India’s 124-Run Win

While the Indian media flashed ‘India thrash Pakistan’ headlines, here’s how the Pakistani media reported it.

After great anticipation, India played and beat Pakistan in their Champions Trophy opener in Birmingham on Sunday. Indian fans all over rejoiced and the media flashed ‘India thrash Pakistan’ headlines.

Following the latest result, the teams are locked at 2-2 in the Champions Trophy, but it is India who have won 11 out of the 11 contests at the World Cup and World T20 tournaments between the two sub-continent rivals.

While this side of the border celebrated, here’s a glimpse at what the media from across had to say about India’s win.

The Nation

For what can be a significant part of a match against many other teams, India were not at their best in the first match of their title defence. Yet, confirming how far Pakistan have fallen behind modern limited-overs cricket, they lost by a whopping 124 runs. Even if Pakistan had not grappled with the age-old problem of dropped catches – Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli plundered 45 off 24 and 38 off 12 after being reprieved – Pakistan might have still had to chase 280, which on the evidence of their batting might have been a handful. Thanks to the fielding lapses, all of India’s top four scored half-centuries – only the third time for them – to set Pakistan 324, which, given their batting, was pretty much game over.

An excerpt from The Nation

Dawn

Title-holders India came out as the superior side against their arch-rivals, defeating Pakistan by 124 runs in a match marred by rain and sloppy fielding. The match ended as Hasan Ali returned to the pavilion with no runs scored. Pakistan ended their innings at 164/9 after 33.4 overs with injured last man Wahab Riaz unable to bat as India won with 44 balls to spare.

An excerpt from Dawn

Daily Pakistan

Pakistan suffered a humiliating defeat against arch-rival India on Sunday due to their inherent flaws in batting and fielding, as well as poor strategies on the field. The exclusion of Faheem Ashraf, who performed exceptionally well against Bangladesh in a warm-up game, and too much reliance on Wahab Riaz, proved costly. Poor shot selection and fielding added to the team’s agony amid excessive hype created by the media for victory.

An excerpt from Daily Pakistan

Geo News

...the green-shirts yet again failed to break the jinx of defeat against their arch-rivals in ICC tournaments.

An excerpt from Geo News

Daily Times

As expected, India downed Pakistan by 124 runs in the arch-rivals’ ICC Champions Trophy opener at Edgbaston Ground here on Sunday.

An excerpt from Daily Times