Shoaib Akhtar slams Rohit Sharma & Co. for dropping Rishabh Pant in Asia Cup showdown vs Pakistan
Shoaib Akhtar slams Rohit & Co. for dropping Rishabh Pant in Asia Cup showdown vs Pakistan.
India and Pakistan locked horns with each other in the Asia Cup showdown on Sunday (August 28) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai. It was the same venue where both sides had last met during the 2021 T20 World Cup, where Babar Azam-led Men in Green had achieved their maiden World Cup win over their Asian neighbours by beating them by ten wickets.
Nonetheless, Pakistan failed to make it two wins in a row versus India as Rohit Sharma & Co. beat them by five wickets in a thrilling contest on Sunday evening. For India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4 for 26) and Hardik Pandya's 3-25 dismissed Pakistan for 147 in 19.5 overs, after opting to bowl first. In reply, India were in a spot of bother being 89-4 but Ravindra Jadeja's 35 and Hardik's 17-ball 33 not out to propel the Men in Blue to a thrilling last-over win. While India were bailed out of a crisis situation, they will be content in returning with a victory to open their campaign in style. Set to face Hong Kong in their next tie, on Wednesday (August 31), India will hope to go unchanged and make it two victories on the trot.
Rishabh Pant, on the other hand, wasn't part of the Pakistan clash -- with India choosing to go ahead with Dinesh Karthik over the swashbuckling left-hander -- and will hope to get a look-in before the Super Four round. Shoaib Akhtar, former Pakistan pacer, had plenty to say about the Indo-Pak clash. He slammed Mohammad Rizwan for playing an unimpressive 42-ball 43-run-knock and slammed both captains for 'bad selections'.
"If Rizwan will play run-a-ball then obviously what will happen? 19 dot balls in the first 6 overs. If you play so many dot balls, then you will face problems," Akhtar said on hisYouTubechannel.
"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," the Rawalpindi Express added.
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It will be interesting to see if India bring back Pant into the playing XI and whether Pakistan will break their trusted opening pair of Babar-Rizwan going forward into the tournament. Both the Asian giants face Hong Kong in their remaining group stage encounter before the action shifts to the Super Four, followed by the final.