Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin slammed Pakistan after they suffered a seven-wicket loss against India at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai in the ongoing Asia Cup on Sunday. Ashwin said the Men in Green are playing outdated T20 cricket.
After electing to bat first, Pakistan could only post 127-9 in their 20 overs as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Pakistan batters could not deliver against the potent Indian bowling line-up as Kuldeep Yadav bagged three wickets.
Furthermore, Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel scalped two wickets apiece. Sahibzada Farhan scored 40 runs off 44 balls whereas Shaheen Shah Afridi scored 33 runs off 16 balls but the other batters could not convert their starts.
India were able to chase down the target with ease as they won with seven wickets and 25 balls to spare.
Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “They don’t know that Abhishek Sharma will dance down the track or Tilak Varma will play sweeps and reverse sweeps. They are playing outdated T20 cricket. All they do is just slog on both sides of the wicket, especially Mohammad Haris. It felt like a mismatch while watching the game.”
Ashwin questioned Afridi for not bowling a single slower ball despite the pitch being helpful for the pace variation.
“Despite watching Hardik and Bumrah in the first innings, Shaheen Afridi kept running in and bowling fast and full to get hit in the powerplay. He has played cricket for so many years. Yet to not know that bowling cutters into the wicket was the way to go, what was he bowling? They didn’t assess the game, pitch or the opponent.”
Ashwin said there is no way Pakistan would have been able to defend even 160 runs against India.
“There is no way they could have defended 160. They have no bowling. Shaheen Afridi has played for so long. It was clear that running in and bowling full and fast was getting belted. But if you bowl a slower ball into the wicket, it was impossible to score,” said Ashwin (via the aforementioned source).
Suryakumar Yadav scored an unbeaten 47, whereas Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma scored 31 runs each.
