In what was a mouth-watering encounter, Rohit Sharma’s Team India defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets to begin their Asia Cup 2022 campaign in the UAE. It was a game that was majorly dominated by the bowlers. India bowled out the arch-rivals for 147 as the Bhuvneshwar Kumar-led pace attack picked up all the 10 wickets. In reply, the Men in Blue finished the tricky chase with 2 balls to spare but in due course, they lost 5 wickets. Debutant Naseem Shah returned figures of 2 for 27 while Mohammad Nawaz picked up three wickets.
For any Indian fan, it was a great game of cricket because the Men in Blue sought revenge for last year’s loss at the T20 World Cup at the same venue. However, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar wasn’t happy with the way both teams competed in the much-awaited game.
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Reviewing the encounter in his latest YouTube video, Akhtar commented both India and Pakistan tried their best to ‘lose’ the game.
“Both India and Pakistan tried their best to lose the game. In fact, India succeeded up to some extent but Hardik Pandya took them home. If Rizwan will play run-a-ball then obviously what will happen? 19 dot balls in the first 6 overs. If you will play so many dot balls, then you will face problems,” said Akhtar.
The former fast bowler further condemned the team selections. He pointed out that promoting Ravindra Jadeja and Iftikhar Ahmed up in their respective batting line-ups was a bad decision.
“It was a bad selection by both captains. Both tried to pick the wrong teams. They (India) dropped Rishabh Pant and we (Pakistan) added Iftikhar Ahmed at number four. No disrespect to Iftikhar or anybody but I have said this multiple times… Babar Azam shouldn’t open. Instead, he should come one down and anchor the innings till the end,” Akhtar added.
Shoaib further highlighted that Virat Kohli, who scored a 34-ball 35, and Rizwan played the same kind of cricket that he ranked ‘poor’,
“Virat and Rizwan played the same kind of game, a very poor display of cricket. Also, as I said about the selection, we put Iftikhar at No. 4, they sent Ravindra Jadeja. This is not a good move at all. You have Suryakumar, Pant, anyway he wasn’t selected, and then Hardik Pandya.
“Similarly, Pakistan promoted Shadab ahead of Asif Ali. What are you doing? What captaincy did Babar do?,” he concluded.
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