Amidst the celebrations of India winning the T20 World Cup 2026 trophy, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi made some surprising comments on Indian cricket fans in Mohali.
Taking a walk down the memory lane, the former all-rounder claimed that due to the pressure and atmosphere created by the crowd in the stadium, they lost the match against India.
Shahid Afridi recalls India vs Cricket World Cup 2011 semi-final
Shahid Afridi was talking about the India vs Pakistan semi-final match in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. Batting first in Mohali, India scored 260 runs and won the match by 29 runs. In reply, Pakistan could score only 231 runs.
Since the target was not very big, the Pakistan cricket team was confident of achieving it. They made a good start to the run chase with their opening pair Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal. Misbah-ul-Haq from the middle order also strengthened his case by scoring a half-century. But the Men in Green, unable to maintain the momentum, lost the match, which was a semi-final.
Afridi told why Pakistan lost the match?
Shahid Afridi said, “I remember when we were playing the semi-finals in Chandigarh, India in 2011, we had a very good start, Hafeez and Kamran Akmal were there on the 90th run. We had no wickets on the 90th run. I too, as a captain, was confident that we would win.”
Afridi claimed that the wicket of Mohammad Hafeez proved to be the turning point of the match. Hafeez was out after scoring 43 runs in 59 balls with the help of seven fours. Munaf Patel brought important success to India.
In the match, MS Dhoni, the then captain of the Indian cricket team, used only five bowlers – Patel, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh – to defend the total. All five bowlers claimed one or two wickets each. Zaheer Khan dismissed the well-set Misbah-ul-Haq, who was batting on 56.
Shahid Afridi credits Mohali crowd for the outcome of the match
Afridi claimed that as soon as Pakistan lost the first wicket, the Mohali crowd created such an atmosphere that the opposing team’s batsmen would have been scared of going into the middle. Afridi was the captain, who was out after scoring 19 runs in just 17 balls.
“The first wicket fell. After that, the way the crowd picked up the team and the way the team looked to be fighting, I think some of our batsmen were trembling when they went in. Because of the noise. I was sitting as the leader captain, and I was watching one get out and Hafeez got out”, Shahid Afridi said in a live television show.
He concluded the discussion by saying that, only because of crowd pressure, they lost the match.
“After that, their players were on every ball. Why? Because there was a lot of noise behind them. Yeah, so honestly there was a lot of pressure on us. So anyway, it was a lot of pressure”, he said.
Shahid Afridi’s big statement on trembling of Pak players in 2011 WC SF.
“The Mohali crowd had lifted the Indian team in the 2011 World Cup semi-finals and the Pakistani players’ legs were trembling while going out to bat, there was a lot of noise which put us under pressure.”pic.twitter.com/BLnNcbhoNv
– Rajeev (@Rajeev1841) 9 March 2026
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