Pakistan will find it hard to beat India's B team: Gavaskar

Pakistans cricket team continued to invite scathing criticism a day after being knocked out of the Champions Trophy with the great Sunil Gavaskar saying that it would struggle to beat even a secondstring Indian teamIndia the 2023 ODI World Cup finalists defeated defending champions Pakistan by six wickets in the Champions Trophy in Dubai on Sunday continuing their dominance over the archrivalsI think a B team from India certainly can give Pakistan a run for their money C team I am not too sure But a B team will be very very hard to beat for Pakistan in their current form Gavaskar said on Sports TodayPakistan hosting an ICC tournament for the first time since 1996 were knocked out of the Champions Trophy after New Zealand beat Bangladesh in another Group A match Pakistan are still winless in the eventSince winning the Champions Trophy in 2017 Pakistans cricketing fortunes have declined with the team finishing fifth in the last two ODI World CupsI think its surprisingthis lack of bench strength Pakistan always had natural talent Natural in the sense that they may not have always been technically correct but they had an instinctive understanding of bat and ball Gavaskar saidLook at InzamamulHaq for example If you look at his stance you wouldnt recommend that to a young batter but he had great temperament With that kind of temperament he made up for any technical shortcomingsGavaskar also noted that despite the Pakistan Super League PSL and domestic whiteball tournaments Pakistan has struggled to produce quality playersHow has India produced so many young stars in whiteball cricket Its because of the IPL said the former India skipperPlayers from there have gone on to play in the Ranji Trophy and eventually for India That is something Pakistan cricket must analyse They need to figure out why they no longer have the bench strength they once didIndia vs Pakistan A onesided contest now AthertonAn IndiaPakistan match is always a highlyanticipated event but former England captain Michael Atherton believes the contest has become onesided and the cricket does not live up to the hypeWell it was completely onesided Atherton said on Sky Sports PodcastIt looked very predictable from a long way out An underpowered Pakistan batting lineup as it was in that first game actually against New Zealand There just seemed to lack a bit of energy and dynamism in the battingIndia and Pakistan only meet in ICC events and their clashes are often built up as blockbuster encountersTheres a bit of an issue for that contest isnt it Because its a highly anticipated contest for all kinds of reasons Partly you know just because of the scarcity value They only play each other in ICC events on neutral territory for obvious reasons he saidBut theres such hype around that fixture You kind of want the cricket to live up to that hype as well If you look at the results in the last 10 years I think theyve played each other nine times in ODIs in the last 10 yearsPakistan have only won once and that was in that final in the Champions Trophy at the Oval So its a onesided contest right nowPakistan leads the headtohead in ODIs winning 73 and losing 58 in 136 games Atherton feels Pakistan have lost the edge in the past decadeWith agency inputs