T20 World Cup: 'IPL adds performance pressure on Indian players,' reckons Waqar Younis after Team India exit

Following India’s lopsided exit in the T20 World Cup semifinal, Pakistan bowling great Waqar Younis felt that Indian players are not showing their fighting character often like they do in the cash-rich league like Indian Premier League. T20 World Cup Home | Schedule | Results | Points Table | T20 World Cup News | Photos India made a strong run into the semifinal, winning four of their five games to the top the group in the Super 12 stage but in the knockout game against England, they cut a sorry figure with their rivals handing them an embarrasing loss. Younis, while speaking on Pakistan’s sports channel A Sports, felt that it’s the burden of replicating their IPL performances that is taking a toll on Indian cricketers, who looked out of their usual character in Adelaide on Thursday. “Look, when the stakes are high then the pressure is too high. I feel that IPL is a mega event. There are a lot of things at stake, big businessmen are involved, and it’s a huge company,” the 50-year-old retired pacer said. “When you play a mega event like this and play in international cricket, there is an added pressure. When you reach the knockout stages, then that burden is something you really feel on your shoulders. I feel it was evident today (on Thursday) and last year in the UAE as well. Jis dileri se wahaan par khelte the wo dileri yahaan nazar nhi aa rhi (They didn’t show the courage they usually show in the IPL). The former Pakistan captain further pointed that all the big names of Indian batting went into a shell and were not aggressive against a not-so-strong English spin bowlers. “If you look at their big names, you take KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli who have centuries to their names. But today it just felt like they were in a shell.” “They scored just 41 runs against England spinners while there were no cross-bat shots despite being the boundaries being smaller. They were just worried, they should be thankful to Hardik Pandya, otherwise they would have scored 120-125 runs,” Younis said. Read all the ** Latest News ****,** Trending News ****, Cricket News ****, Bollywood News ****, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook****, Twitter and Instagram****.