In sports, the comparison of players is very common, but when it comes to comparing the players of two rival teams, like India and Pakistan, the debates often turn into heated altercations. We witnessed one such instance between former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi and former Indian cricketer Atul Wassan.
During a discussion ahead of the India vs Pakistan match at T20 World Cup 2022, Wassan said that the Indian players have made a reputation for themselves by winning big matches globally, but Pakistan doesn’t have that stature of player despite doing well on many occasions, citing Mohammad Rizwan’s name.
He claimed that, unlike Indian celebrities, Babar Azam and Rizwan are not household names around the world.
Well, these comments didn’t go down well with Afridi, and the legendary Pakistani all-rounder Afridi gave a befitting reply to Wassan by saying India is giving too much hype to their players.
Speaking on Samaa TV, Atul Wassan said: “Mujhe ek deja vu wali feeling ho rahi thi. Kuch mahine phele bhi discuss kar rahe the ki Indian team main bare bare naam hai - Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul. Aur yeh bare naam isliye hai kyunki kuch saalo se innhone consistent performances diye hai. Iisliye world main bhi rating hai. Compared to Pakistan cricketers, unhone bhi kiya hai, par India team ke against dekha jae toh utne bare, utne globally nehi hai.
(I’m having a Déjà vu. A few months back we were discussing that there are big names in the Indian team like Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. These are big names because they’ve consistently performed over the years. That’s why they have a rating in the world. Pakistan cricketers have also done well but they are not as big and global as the Indian players).”
He continued, “Rizwan ne ek match jitaya, Nawaz ne hi ek match jitaya, but ek match jitwane se koi bare player nehi ban jaate. Hardik ko bhi highly rate karte he kyunki woh lagatar bowling se bhi jitwaya hai, batting se bhi. Rizwan bara naam nehi lag rahe the kyunki unhone India ke khilaf matche nehi jitwaye the. Par abhi woh 3-4 bar perform kiya hai, toh unko bhi rating milna chaiye.
(Rizwan won a game, Nawaz did that too, but winning a match does not make them a big player. Hardik has also been rated highly because he has consistently won games for India by bowling, even by batting. Rizwan wasn’t a big name because he hadn’t won games for the team against India. But now that he has performed multiple times, he should get ratings as well).”
Meanwhile, Afridi was also part of that discussion, and he denied commenting on Virat Kohli's form when he asked, but the former captain strongly reacted to Wassan's remark with a fiery reply.
Afridi said on the show: “Abhi jo baat kar rahe they woh samaj nehi ayi. Apne players ko sar pe charha liya. Pakistan players, jo ICC Ranking main No.1, 2 he unko bilkul ignore kardiya. (I didn’t quite understand what he was talking about right now. They have created a big hype about their players, and have ignored the Pakistani players who are ranked at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions).”
