Former Indian legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar believes the 10 deliveries which Shaheen Shah Afridi didn’t bowl after getting injured would not have made much of a difference. Afridi injured his knee when he took Harry Brook’s catch at long-off before leaving the field.
The left-arm pacer then came on to bowl the 16th over but he struggled in his run-up. After bowling only one ball, Afridi decided not to continue as he wasn’t feeling the pain. Iftikhar Ahmed was then given the ball by Babar Azam but the off-spinner was taken for 13 runs by Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes, which brought the required run rate under check.
Afridi had dismissed Alex Hales in the first over to give a perfect start to Pakistan in their run-defense of 138 runs. In fact, Babar Azam feels the result could have been different had Afridi not gotten injured but Gavaskar feels Pakistan was 20 runs short of a par score. The Men in Green could only post an under-par score of 137 runs after Jos Buttler won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Afridi had returned to his best in the later stages of the tournament after going wicketless in the matches against India and Zimbabwe, which Pakistan lost.
Sunil Gavaskar told India Today when asked if Afridi’s injury played a key role in Pakistan’s five-wicket loss, “I don’t think so, as they didn’t have enough runs on the board. They were around 15-20 runs short. Had they got to 150-155, they would have had a better chance and their bowlers would have had a bit of a cushion. But I don’t think the 10 deliveries that Shaheen didn’t bowl would have made that much of a difference. Maybe Pakistan would have got another wicket, but England would still have won.”
The Pakistan fast bowlers were certainly getting help on a two-paced MCG pitch. Haris Rauf was once again right on the money as he returned with figures of 2-23 in his quota of four overs. Furthermore, Naseem Shah didn’t have the rub of the green on his side as he went past the outside edge on numerous occasions.
But Mohammad Wasim conceded 38 runs in his quota of four overs. However, there is no denying the fact that Pakistan’s fast bowlers bowled their hearts out and deserve all the credit for taking the match deep.
