Home
India’s six-wicket win over Pakistan on September 21 at Dubai Cricket Stadium made it seven in a row against their neighbour in international cricket. Seeing the sorry state of affairs in Pakistan cricket, their legendary pacer Wasim Akram was left disappointed. Akram said that it is “tough to watch Pakistan”. While Pakistan captain Salman Agha feels that they put on a good score, their inability to reach 200 despite a good start irked Akram.
“I am going to speak my heart out. It is tough to watch Pakistan. I understand as an ex-player winning and losing that part of the game. But again India has outplayed Pakistan in every department over the last four or five years. Once or twice, we have won here and there, but it has been incredible from India. The talent, the depth, everything. One or two catches can be dropped in any game, that is fine. But from 91 in the first 10 overs, when we fail to reach 200, there is nothing to say,” Cricketer-turned-commentator Akram said on Sony Sports Network.
Agha defends batters, slams bowlers for loss to India
Agha defended his team for not putting up a big total on the board. While he feels that Pakistan could’ve scored 10-15 runs more, he blamed the bowling department for poor start in the powerplay overs as Indian openers Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill took the game away from them.
"The batting was a lot better today, and that's a positive. The way our start was, we could have scored 15 more. But when the ball goes soft after ten overs, it's not as easy to bat. But we didn't bowl as well in the powerplay and got punished. But our start should have ensured we scored 180," Agha said in the post-match press conference.
Agha says Pakistan dependent on conditions to put 200 on board
Agha was also asked why the revamped Pakistan team with an aggressive intent hasn’t been crossing 200 of late. He defended the batters yet again, saying that the conditions in UAE are not for 200-plus scores. He feels going for 200 instead of a par score will be categorised as “careless” as these are not home conditions where wickets are flat.
"These conditions are not for 200. These conditions don't allow you to score 200," Salman said. "You have to respect the conditions. You can't say that you want to score 200 if the par score is 160, that would be careless.
"If you get us good pitches, then you will see the same kind of batting that you saw against Bangladesh [at home]. So, I think there is a lot of difference in the conditions."
Agha-led Salman face a must-win clash when they face Charith Asalanka’s Sri Lanka on September 24 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium. A win in the next game will keep them afloat in the tournament.
ADVERTISEMENT
