Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was critical of Pakistan skipper Babar Azam’s bowling changes during their Asia Cup 2023 clash against India, saying that they did not make any sense.
Rain played spoilsport as the high-voltage encounter ended in a no-result in Pallekele on Saturday (September 2). The match was called off without a ball being bowled in the second innings.
Earlier, India won the toss and opted to bat first. The Men in Blue were reduced to 66/4 in the 15th over but Ishan Kishan (82 off 81) and Hardik Pandya (87 off 90) stepped up to the plate and slammed half-centuries to propel the team to a competitive 266/10 in 48.5 overs.
For Pakistan, the pace trio of Shaheen Afridi (4/35), Haris Rauf (3/58) and Naseem Shah (3/36) shared all 10 Indian wickets among them.
“I think the bowling changes didn't make any sense because if you have three bowlers, the pace bowlers have taken the early wickets, you want to keep at least one ongoing from one end. I know that you can't really go through long spells, but one person could have been bowling from one end and Shadab or Nawaz from the other end,” Gavaskar told India Today.
He further said that Pakistan missed a trick by not bowling one of their pacers in the middle overs to break the partnership between Kishan and Pandya. The pair added 138 runs for the fifth wicket when the pressure was on.
“I think that is where Pakistan missed a trick and I mean India will be saying a big thank you because that's what allowed the partnership to flourish because otherwise, if one of the pacers had taken just that one wicket between Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya, then maybe India would have struggled to reach even 175, 200,” Gavaskar added.
Since the match was abandoned due to rain, the two arch-rivals shared one point each and Pakistan progressed to the Super-4 stage from Group A on account of their thumping 238-run victory over Nepal in the Asia Cup opener.
Now, India will have to beat Nepal in their last group fixture in Pallekele on Monday (September 4) to make it to the next round.
