Asia Cup 2023: “India could’ve departed for 170-200”- Shoaib Akhtar criticizes Babar Azam for not being aggressive

India managed 266 thanks to half-centuries from Kishan and Hardik.

Legendary Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar criticized captain Babar Azam for letting a golden opportunity go against India in their clash in Asia Cup 2023 in Kandy on September 2^nd, saying that if Babar had been aggressive with his decisions, Men in Blue would’ve folded for less than 200.

Rohit Sharma had won the toss and chosen to bat first despite overcast conditions and chances of rain. Shaheen Afridi proved to be a difficult customer to handle as he swung the ball both ways and accounted for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli both.

India was in trouble at 66/4 in 14 overs, when Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya added 138 runs for the fifth wicket. Kishan made 82 and Hardik made 87 runs before Pakistan bowled India out for 266 runs.

Pakistan didn’t get a chance to bat as persistent rains meant that the match had to be abandoned without a second innings being played. Both team shared one point each as a result.

Akhtar said that they could have restricted India to a sub-200 score if they got two-over spells of fast bowling alongside a spinner to suppress the Indian middle order.

“When you have four early wickets, you shouldn’t let them play out the innings. Pakistan should have bowled them out by the 40th over given the start they got. India’s morale would have fallen, they could have departed for 170-200.

A small mistake from Babar I feel. 15-17 overs by spinners in that situation, which I didn’t think was right. Attack should always be on. You need wickets, you’re not defending in that situation,” Shoaib Akhtar said on YouTube.

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In doing so, however, he also credited the classical ODI middle-order partnership of Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya.

“Both of them have all kinds of strokeplay, but they are comfortable rotating strike, turning singled into doubles. It was a very solid, sensible innings, especially from Ishan Kishan. India needed what they produced. Used their intelligence and did not defend too much, brought India back into the match by commanding the crease,” he said.

Shoaib Akhtar was all praises for Shaheen Afridi who picked 4/35 including wickets of Rohit and Kohli for cheap.

“What a great spell by Shaheen, what a great bowler he is. Everyone knows how he’s going to approach his bowling, bring the ball in, using swing and seam, but the Indian batsmen had no answers,” Akhtar said.

“Shaheen Shah is a superstar,” he asserted.

India will next face Nepal on Monday at the same venue, Kandy, while Pakistan has qualified for the Super 4s stage.