Former Indian cricketer, Dinesh Karthik, offering guidance to Pakistan after their defeat against India in the World Cup clash, emphasized the psychological challenge the team faces.
Rohit Sharma's 86 and an inspired bowling display helped India hammer Pakistan by seven wickets in their high-profile World Cup clash at the 132,000-capacity Ahmedabad stadium on Saturday.
Drawing on his experience, he recommended a temporary break from phone usage to shield themselves from the immediate aftermath of such a defeat.
"It's going to be hard to three days. I can promise you that they walk through airports like just what, Morgs said. There'll be a lot of notifications coming in and most of it negative at this point of time. Ideally, if I was there, I wouldn't look at the phone for a couple of days. That's a start," Karthik said.
Reflecting on the nature of the loss, Karthik highlighted the distinction between a competitive defeat and one where the team fails to put up a fight.
"Now, how do you deal with a loss like this? Because psychologically it is a bit of a blow. It's one thing to compete and lose. Like when they lost against India in Melbourne in T20 a year ago, that is acceptable. They fought right to the end, India with a better team and they just picked them at the post. But today they didn't compete. Now that is always hard to get over," Karthik added.
Despite the setback, Karthik urged the team to stick to their original beliefs and strategies, emphasizing the need for unity, focused practice, and unwavering belief in their collective abilities.
"They already have two wins and it is okay among the top ranked teams to lose one. What you don't want to be doing is lose two on the bounce or get upset by one of the smaller teams. That will put a lot of people into your dreams, especially when it comes to the top four. They're a good team. There is no doubt about it. They're a team which has a good bowling attack. The are a team, which has a good batting unit as well. It's about coming together, practising the right way and most importantly, believing in the same belief that they had at the start of the tournament and not change things midway," Karthik concluded.