India vs Pakistan saw various 'battles' being played out. Despite the Men In Blue boasting a quality batting line-up, Babar Azam-led Pakistan had their noses in front as Shaheen Shah Afridi led the fightback in Pallekele.
Former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar was of the opinion that India skipper Rohit Sharma is unable to understand or read Shaheen Afridi's bowling. The lanky bowler cleaned up Rohit in the Asia Cup 2023 encounter on Saturday. Shaheen bowled a fuller delivery that swung in and cleaned up Rohit who was unable to read it. Akhtar went onto say that Rohit is not at his best as the he scored mere 11 runs against Pakistan at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
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"I think Rohit is unable to read or understand Shaheen. The visual of Rohit Sharma being beaten like this was not good, but he is a far better player than this. Rohit can bat much better than this. I think he is worrying too much," Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.
India were bowled out for 266 against Pakistan despite a valiant 138-run partnership between Hardik Pandya (87) and Ishan Kishan (82). Rain delayed the start of the second innings and eventually the match was called off.
"The constant interruptions by rain, leading to the players going off the ground and coming back in, it affects the focus of the batters. Gill lost his wicket because of this reason, he lost his concentration, and that is why he played such a loose shot," said Akhtar.
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India next play Nepal on Monday, September 04.
