Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar heaped praise on India spinner Kuldeep Yadav for his stunning performance against Pakistan in the Asia Cup Super-4 clash at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Monday (September 11).

Kuldeep returned with a five-wicket haul (5/25 in 8 overs) as India bundled out the arch-rivals for a paltry 128 to win the contest by a huge margin of 228 runs.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Akhtar hailed Kuldeep as the best spinner going around while also adding that India and Pakistan should meet in the final of the continental tournament.

“I could not understand why Kuldeep was out of the team in the first place. He showed that he’s the best spinner in town. Now India and Pakistan should meet in the final, where it will be a battle of attitude and nerves,” Shoaib Akhtar stated.

It was a clinical performance from the Indian team. Asked to bat first, the Men in Blue rode on stunning hundreds from Virat Kohli (122* off 94) and KL Rahul (111* off 106) to pile up 356/2 on the board. The opening duo of Rohit Sharma (56 off 49) and Shubman Gill (58 off 52) also smashed dazzling half-centuries.

While Kuldeep was the wrecker-in-chief with the ball, Indian pacers also did a fabulous job. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur delivered economical spells and claimed one scalp each.

“It was a well-deserved win for India, they played really well. What I liked the most was the attitude the Indian bowlers came out with. They wanted to take wickets and wrap the contest up quickly. That was a very encouraging sign for me as a fast bowler,” Akhtar added.

With this emphatic victory, India climbed to the top of the Super-4 points table with a Net Run Rate of +4.560. On the other hand, Babar Azam and his men slipped to the third position and their Net Run Rate (-1.892) also took a beating.