India crashed Pakistan in their much-hyped ICC World Cup 2023 match in Ahmedabad on October 14 by 7 wickets. It was an underwhelming performance from the Men in Green who completely surrendered in front of an aggressive Indian team.
After being asked to bat first, Pakistan posted 191 runs despite being 155/2 at one stage. Babar Azam made 50 and Mohammad Rizwan made 49 runs. For India, five bowlers picked two wickets each with Jasprit Bumrah starring with 2/19 in 7 overs.
In reply, Rohit Sharma looked like ending the game inside 20 overs as he slammed 86 runs with 6 fours and 6 sixes. Shubman Gill made 16 and Virat Kohli made 14 runs but played freely. Shreyas Iyer then made 53* as India won by 7 wickets in 30.3 overs.
After the match, Babar Azam was seen requesting Virat Kohli for Team India jerseys with his autograph. Their interaction went viral on social media, even as Pakistan fans were reflecting on their team's embarrassing defeat.
Seeing Kohli hand a couple of Team India shirts to Babar, however, Pakistan legend Wasim Akram wasn't pleased. Akram criticized Babar for getting t-shirts from Kohli on the field, in front of cameras, with the visual being played repeatedly on television sets across the globe.
The legendary pacer added that if Babar Azam wanted some shirts from Kohli, then he should have done so in the dressing room, away from cameras.
"That's what I exactly said when I saw the picture [getting the shirts publicly, not privately]," Akram said. "Today was not the day to do this. If you want to do it - (agar chache ke puttar ne keh diya hai ki t-shirt chahiye kohli ki) if your uncle's son has asked you to get Kohli's shirt - then do it after the game in the dressing room," he said on A Sports.
After the game, Babar admitted that his team was far from convincing in the match. While Pakistan's target was 280-290 runs, they could only reach 191.
"We started well. A good partnership between me and Imam. We wanted to play normal cricket (me and Rizwan). Suddenly we had a collapse and didn't finish well. The way we started, wanted to target 280-290. With the new ball, we are not upto the mark. The way Rohit is playing - he played an outstanding innings," he said after the match.
