Pakistan produced quite an underwhelming performance against India in the Cricket World Cup 2023 match on Saturday saw Babar Azam’s men suffering a 7-wicket defeat. India produced a performance that truly reflected their mindset and credentials to go all the way in the tournament. As Pakistan fans were reflecting on their team’s embarrassing defeat, a gesture involving their skipper Babar and India’s Virat Kohli went viral on social media. Seeing Kohli hand a couple of Team India shirts to Babar, however, Pakistan legend Wasim Akram wasn’t pleased.
In a chat on A-Sports, Akram criticised Babar for getting t-shirts from Kohli on the field, in front of cameras, with the visual being played repeatedly on television sets across the globe. Akram said that even if Babar had to ask Kohli for shirts, it should’ve been done away from the cameras, in the dressing room.
“That’s what I exactly said when I saw the picture [getting the shirts publicly, not privately],” Akram said. “Today was not the day to do this. If you want to do it – (agar chache ke puttar ne keh diya hai ki t-shirt chahiye kohli ki) if your uncle’s son has asked you to get Kohli’s shirt – then do it after the game in the dressing room,” he said.
Wasim Akram says “Babar Azam shouldn’t have asked Virat Kohli his Tshirt”pic.twitter.com/KREc7H41Pm#INDvsPAK #indvspak2023 #Rizwan #RohitSharma #IndiaVsPakistan #CWC23 #ICCCricketWorldCup23 pic.twitter.com/NEhiFEzEMp
— ICT Fan (@Delphy06) October 14, 2023
After the game, Babar admitted that his team was far from convincing in the match. While Pakistan’s target was 280-290 runs, they could only reach 191.
“We started well. Good partnership between me and Imam. We wanted to play normal cricket (me and Rizwan). Suddenly we had a collapse and didn’t finish well. The way we started, wanted to target 280-290. With the new ball we are not upto the mark. The way Rohit is playing – he played an outstanding innings,” he said after the match.
India captain Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, took a swipe at Pakistan’s batters as he said that it wasn’t a 190 pitch.
“The bowlers were the ones today as well who set the game up for us. I don’t think it was a 190 pitch. At one stage we were looking at 280. The way they showed grit says a lot. That is something we pride ourselves in. Whoever gets the ball does the job. We’ve got 6 individuals who can do the job with the ball. My job as a captain is important there as well. It’s to read the conditions and figure out who’s the right guy to do the job,” Rohit said after the match.
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