ODI World Cup 2023: After India's crushing defeat, Sunil Gavaskar gives a scathing critique of Pakistan, saying, 'They didn't learn anything

Rohit Sharma and company destroyed Pakistan's hopes of winning the ODI World Cup for the first time ever as they defeated Men in Green at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday to record their eighth straight victory over their neighbour.

Former captain of India and renowned batsman Sunil Gavaskar chastised Pakistan for their appalling performance in the major tournament against India, claiming that they had not learned from their previous setbacks and had kept making the same mistakes against the Men in Blue.

Despite Babar Azam's (50) and Mohammad Rizwan's (49), impressive batting performances, Pakistan's batting collapse was set off by Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja. Pakistan was invited to bat first. A batting-friendly track saw Pakistan suffer a dramatic batting collapse, going from 155/3 in 29.4 overs to 191/10 in 42.5.

"Rizwan possesses the type of skill that can overwhelm the opposition in the game. He is an extremely sly player. He is skilled at playing and modifying his style to fit the demands of the opposition. Therefore, if he hadn't been wicketd, Pakistan would have lost 250–260. That was a serious setback. With another cutter, Bumrah takes another wicket in the next over," Gavaskar said to Star Sports.

In addition, Gavaskar chastised Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi for not varying his new ball bowling against Rohit Sharma. The seasoned cricket player used Bumrah's example to demonstrate how to utilise the new ball more effectively.

"It is obvious that Pakistan did not learn anything because Shaheen's cutter bowled towards the end was the only one that got Rohit out. Even with the new ball, we would have assumed they would bowl the cutter. Nowhere is it stated that the new ball must be bowled at a specific pace. You can alter it, but the Pakistani bowlers did not exhibit any such behaviour," he stated.

India, having won three straight games, topped the standings and will next play Bangladesh on Thursday, October 19, in Pune.