India vs Pakistan saw one name that was on everyone's lips - Shaheen Shah Afridi. The tall, lanky pacer spearheaded Pakistan's attack as he bagged two star players in Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli during their Asia Cup 2023 encounter on Saturday.
Afridi first cleaned up Team India skipper Rohit Sharma and then sent back star batter Virat Kohli as well. The ace bowler silenced the Indian fans at the stadium as his four-fer was one of the highlight of the India vs Pakistan clash at the Pallekele International Stadium.
Talking about the iconic India vs Pakistan tie, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar stated that bowling changes by Babar Azam did not make any sense to him.
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“I think the bowling changes didn't make any sense because if you have three bowlers, the pace bowlers have taken the early wickets, you want to keep at least one ongoing from one end. I know that you can't really go through long spells, but one person could have been bowling from one end and Shadab or Nawaz from the other end," Gavaskar told India Today.
Taking a sly dig at Babar, Gavaskar said that the Pakistan skipper clearly missed a trick as India managed to stable things despite losing wickets early. Hardik and Ishan stitched a 138-run partnership as India posted a fighting total of 266 on board.
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Gavaskar opined that India wouldn't have crossed the 200-mark if Babar would have introduced Shaheen early. When the lanky pacer returned, India already had 239 on board.
.“I mean India will be saying a big thank you because that's what allowed the partnership to flourish because otherwise, if one of the pacers had taken just that one wicket between Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya, then maybe India would have struggled to reach even 175, 200,” Gavaskar added.
