Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram believes Babar Azam made one mistake in the high-octane clash against India at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai. Akram feels Azam should have bowled out Mohammad Nawaz in the 13th or the 14th over. Azam gave the final over to the left-arm orthodox spinner, which proved to be costly.
In fact, Nawaz only had seven runs in the bank and was always going to have his work cut out against Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya. Meanwhile, Pakistan played with three seamers and the Indian batters found it difficult to score runs against them briskly.
The three seamers conceded 91 runs in the 12 overs they bowled collectively and debutant Naseem Shah took two wickets. On the other hand, Mohammad Nawaz also did a fine job as he got the big wickets of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja but Akram feels a spinner should not have been used at the fag end of the innings.
Moreover, Nawaz had to bowl with only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle because of Pakistan’s slow over-rate, which made his job even more difficult.
“I like this T20 type of pitch. I enjoyed watching bowlers bowl bouncers and getting wickets, on both sides. It was a good cricketing game that went down to the wire till the last over. Babar made one mistake. He should have had Nawaz bowl the 13th or 14th over. It was too late. You can’t have a spinner in T20s bowling in the last 3 to 4 overs, especially against the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya,” Akram said on Star Sports.
“He is a very clever bowler, Nawaz. He had just bowled the straighter one and got the inside edge. Well done India. They won the game. Congratulations. But I was impressed by Pakistan’s bowler. Dahani, playing his 3rd or 4th game, Naseem Shah, 20-21 years old playing his first game, Haris Rauf has been consistent for Pakistan and every bowler tried their heart out. You can see that the future is bright for Pakistan as far as fast bowling is concerned,” Akram added.
Meanwhile, Pakistan fast bowlers did trouble the Indian batters as the Men in Blue were not able to get going. Pakistan has a young pace battery but all three seamers were right on the money despite suffering from cramps.
India and Pakistan will both face Hong Kong in their next matches of the tournament.
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