Colombo | Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson said "fearless" Ishan Kishan's marauding fifty was the difference between his side and India, and urged his players to rally after the heavy defeat in the marquee clash of the T20 World Cup here.
Led by Kishan's aggressive 77 off 40 balls, India trumped Pakistan by 61 runs in a Group A match here Sunday night to seal a Super Eight berth.
"I think he's fearless. He's able to score on both sides of the ground. So, he's not just committed to the leg side. We know he's incredibly strong there, but he can reverse. So, if you've got spin, especially in the power play, it can be a challenge," Hesson said in the post-match press conference.
True to Hesson's words, Kishan scored 66 runs off 37 balls against Pakistan slow bowlers, spoiling their spin-heavy strategy on a slow Premadasa pitch.
Hesson admitted that Kishan's approach unsettled his spinners.
"I think the fact that he's in a rare vein of form, applied a lot of pressure to our spinners and probably took them away from the basics, which the pitch was actually doing a lot when we bowled nice and slow and into it, but outside of that, no one really scored better than a run a ball.
"Other than him, Dubey was slightly better, but it was tough. And that (Kishan's innings) certainly was a standout amongst the whole match, really. The way Kishan played took the game away from us," he added.
The New Zealand-born coach conceded that the massive defeat has left the team disappointed, and the challenge is to come back and play to their potential in the ICC showpiece.
Pakistan failed to put up even a token fight in the chase of 176, getting trounced for 114.
The result has pushed Pakistan (4 points) to the third spot in Group A, behind leaders India and the USA, who also have four points, but enjoy a better net run rate of 0.788 as compared to -4.03 of Pakistan.
Now, Pakistan need to beat Namibia in their last league match to enter the Super Eights.
"We know that it's a huge event - Pakistan against India. We've won five (T20I) games on the bounce, we're confident, but today we got outplayed. There's a pretty disappointed dressing room in there at the moment, because they know how much it means to Pakistan," Hesson said.
"We didn't play as well as we could have, but we know in tournaments like this it's not always going to go your way. So, our job is to pick ourselves up and make sure that we're very good in two or three days," he added.
Hesson also asked Pakistan players, especially batters, to trust their decision-making process for a better result while playing under pressure situations.
"Look it's very much when a guy's putting you under pressure - are you going to stick to your basics or are you going to go away from that? And I think that's going to be a real challenge because as the tournament progresses, we'll be put under pressure again.
"And it's how we respond when we're under the pump. All these guys are international players, they're all good players, but when the pressure comes on, are they going to trust the decision making or are they going to probably go outside that? That's something we're going to have to get better at," he added.
