Islamabad, April 1(ANI): Former Pakistan captain Aamir Sohail has blamed Shahid Afridi's 'defensive captaincy' for the national cricket team's World Cup semi-final defeat against India.
Chasing a modest total of 261 runs, Pakistan were dismissed for 231 with a ball to spare after all of India's five bowlers took two wickets apiece in the crucial match on Wednesday.
Sohail was of the view that skipper Afridi succumbed to pressure in the high-voltage game.
"The match began in earnest in the 11th over and there is no room for sentiment in this game. It was pivotal for Afridi and his team to attack and take wickets but that didn't happen," the Daily Times quoted Sohail, as saying.
"Even while Sachin Tendulkar struggled the slips were removed and he snatched singles at will, and chances went abegging which increased the pressure on the team," he noted.
The former captain said that even though Afridi was aware of his Indian counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni's struggle for form in the World Cup, he did not attack him.
"Once again we failed to go for the jugular," he said.
India's top scorer and man-of-the-match Sachin Tendulkar was dropped four times before he was caught at 85 by captain Shahid Afridi off the bowling of Saeed Ajmal.
"Saeed Ajmal was bamboozling Sachin and should have been kept on. However, Afridi thought otherwise," rued Sohail.
As Pakistan got ousted from the mega event, India qualified for the World Cup final to be played against Sri Lanka at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 2. (ANI)
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