Sports

‘Thank You Very Much Shahid Bhai’: Mohammad Hafeez Trolls Ashwin For Being Ignored In India XI

September 5, 2022
Bharat Times

New Delhi: TeamIndia clashed against Pakistan for the second time in Asia Cup 2022 on Sunday. After a win against Pakistan in a group stage match, India faced a five-wicket defeat in Sunday’s Super-4 clash against the Men in Green. Fans and cricket pundits were left confused when Rohit Sharma announced India’s playing XI for the Pakistan fixture. The captain announced they are playing two leg-spinners but not Ashwin, an off-spinner, who could have proved to be fatal against Pakistan’s left-handers.

Both Chahal and Ravi Bishnoi had a poor outing. Chahal especially conceded 43 runs in his quota of four overs and after that, there is only one question on everyone’s mind: why was R Ashwin not given a chance in India’s playing XI?

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez has shared his logic behind this bizarre decision but also took a shot at R Ashwin while doing so.  Hafeez said that because of a mistake that Ashwin made eight years ago in Ind vs Pak Asia Cup match in 2014, he is not getting a place in India XI for recent matches of India vs Pakistan in Asia Cup.

Hafeez, while speaking on a sports show on PTV said, “Thank you very much Shahid bhai, this is the impact of the match you finished with two sixes in Asia Cup 2014.” In both Asia Cup 2022 matches played between India and Pakistan, Ashwin was not a part of the playing XI.

WATCH

The match Hafeez is referring to was the sixth match of the 2014 Asia Cup. India had scored 245 runs for eight wickets. In reply, Pakistan chased down the target for the loss of 9 wickets in the last over.

Pakistan needed 10 runs to win in the last over and Ashwin was given the ball by then captain Virat Kohli.  Ashwin took a wicket on the first ball and on the next ball Junaid took a single and gave the strike to Shahid Afridi who sealed a historic win for his team by hitting two consecutive sixes.