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Did India deliberately ‘insult’ Pakistan by giving the ball to Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma in Colombo? Moeen Ali and Ravi Bopara think so.
Suryakumar Yadav with Rinku Singh.
(AFP)
Former England cricketers Moeen Ali and Ravi Bopara imagine that there was a ‘hint of’ patronisation behind India giving the ball to Rinku Singh in Sunday’s 2026 T20 World Cup match against Pakistan.
The most important match on the planet calender monetarily — one where Pakistan’s threat of boycott sent the International Cricket Council right into a frenzy — saw India cruise through. They scored 175/7 in the primary innings on a tacky batting wicket after which defended it by 61 runs, bowling Pakistan out for just 114 in 18 overs.
India used seven bowlers in the sport, with part-timers Tilak Varma and Rinku bowling three overs together. Tilak got the ball when Pakistan were 78/6 within the twelfth over and even picked up a wicket on his first ball, getting Shadab Khan out for 14, which explains the state of the Men in Green’s batting.
Rinku, who had never bowled even two overs in international cricket, got the ball for the seventeenth over and conceded nine runs against the tailenders. On the podcast show Beard Before Wicket, the host asked Moeen and Bopara if it was India’s way of ‘insulting’ Pakistan and each former cricketers agreed.
“I believe there was a touch of taking the mickey,” Moeen said. “In a way, you don’t must bowl Bumrah anymore because he has just come back from a giant layoff. You don’t must bowl your seamers on that wicket they usually just bowled straight,” he added.
“Yeah, there would have been because they were to date ahead of the sport,” Bopara agreed.
India under Suryakumar Yadav have given the ball to part-timers in one-sided encounters before. It’s his way of keeping these players ready in case they are literally required to chip in in the longer term.
“The gap between the 2 teams really showed today. That was hard-times for Pakistan,” Bopara said of the match.
“I agree. I actually thought this game would have been the closest in a protracted time. I saw Pakistan had good spinners, mystery spinners and [thought] playing in Sri Lanka would suit them loads more. But like Rav said, India were to date ahead, chalk and cheese, can’t even compare,” Moeen said.
February 16, 2026, 23:34 IST
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