What was a mouth-watering match, Rohit Sharma’s team India beat Pakistan by 5 wickets to begin their Asia Cup 2022 campaign in the UAE. It was a game in which bowlers dominated. India bowled out arch-rivals for 147 as the Bhuvneshwar Kumar-led pace attack picked up all 10 wickets. In reply, the Men in Blue ended the chase with 2 balls to spare, but in due time, they lost 5 wickets. Debutant Naseem Shah took 2 for 27 while Mohammad Nawaz took 3 wickets.
For any Indian fan, it was a great game of cricket as the Men in Blue sought to avenge last year’s T20I loss. World Cup in one place. However, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar was not happy with the way both the teams competed in the much-awaited game.
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Reviewing the encounter in his latest YouTube video, Akhtar commented that both India and Pakistan did their best to ‘lost’ the game.
“Both India and Pakistan tried their best to lose the game. Actually India was successful to some extent but Hardik Pandya took him home. Obviously what will happen if Rizwan plays run-a-ball? 19 dot balls in first 6 overs. If you play so many dot balls then you will face problems.
The former fast bowler criticized and condemned the team selection. He said that promoting Ravindra Jadeja and Iftikhar Ahmed in their respective batting order was a bad decision.
“It was a poor selection of both the captains. Both tried to pick the wrong teams. They (India) brought in Rishabh Pant and we (Pakistan) brought in Iftikhar Ahmed at number four. No disrespect to Iftikhar or anyone, but I have said this many times… Babar Azam should not be opened. Instead, he should come down one and handle the innings till the end,” said Akhtar.
Shoaib further highlighted that Virat Kohli, who scored 35 off 34 balls and Rizwan played the same kind of cricket he rated ‘poor’,
“Virat and Rizwan played the same game, very poor cricket performance. Also, as I said about the selection, we put Iftikhar at number 4, he sent Ravindra Jadeja. This is not a good move at all. You didn’t have Suryakumar, Pant, he was selected anyway, and then Hardik Pandya.
“Similarly, Pakistan promoted Shadab ahead of Asif Ali. What are you doing? Which captaincy did Babur take?” he concluded.
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