Michael Clarke believes India and Pakistan are nowhere near the same in terms of quality: India showed complete dominance over Pakistan in the group stage match of the 2026 T20 World Cup. They defeated their arch-rivals by a margin of 61 runs, which is also the biggest victory margin in terms of runs in an India vs Pakistan match. With Sunday’s win, the Men in Blue extended their win record to 8-1.
After the match, many former cricketers and cricket pundits have expressed their views on the defeat and India’s dominance. Former Australia captain Michael Clarke, while sharing his views, said that there has been a big difference between India and Pakistan in terms of cricket. He also told that some cricketers are also taking part in their last World Cup match.
Michael Clarke believes there is a huge difference between India and Pakistan
“I think now, there is a distinct difference between the two teams. India have been ahead for a long time and there is a significant difference now. I don’t know what Pakistan does,” Michael Clarke said on ‘Beyond23 Cricket Podcast’.
“If you look at their list, maybe some of their senior players have been good, but in terms of T20 cricket, this could be their last chance. They can look at the PSL and some of the young talent coming from there.”
Michael Clarke also believed that the drama of Pakistan boycotting the India vs Pakistan match had an impact on Pakistan cricket players. Pakistan decided not to field against their arch-rivals in a show of solidarity with Bangladesh, who were kicked out by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after the Bangla Tigers refused to travel to India citing security reasons.
After this, they took a U-turn after formal requests from Bangladesh Cricket Board, Sri Lanka Cricket and Emirates Cricket Board.
Michael Clarke calls PCB boycott a circus
“I expected India to win. It’s been a bit of a circus with Pakistan playing in the tournament but not playing India. So from a player’s point of view, it doesn’t help, but they performed better. India are a much better team than Pakistan in this format and have been like that for some time now,” he said.
India once again defeated Pakistan
Talking about the match, India performed better than its opponents in every department. Ishan Kishan, who smashed the Men in Green bowlers all over the park, looked in a different touch and felt like he was batting on a different wicket. He played a stormy inning of 77 runs in 40 balls.
After this, Salman Ali Aga’s team was out for 114 runs, in which Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Varun Chakraborty took two wickets each. Tilak Verma and Kuldeep Yadav took one wicket each. The Men in Green lost the top order with 13/3 in the first two overs.
Usman Khan was the highest scorer with 44 runs and Shaheen Afridi was the second highest scorer. It demonstrated the decline of Pakistan’s batting and the quality of cricket they played. After the defeat, Pakistan has changed its next match against Namibia to a possible knockout. If there is an upset, Pakistan will be out of the T20 World Cup for two consecutive editions.
Also read: Did Pakistan government put pressure on Shoaib Akhtar to take a U-turn on Mohsin Naqvi? Shocking development emerges
