Pakistan’s former pace bowling great, Shoaib Akhtar, was invited on SportsKeeda, a renowned Indian channel, to conversate with former Indian off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh.
The two have been the limelight before the ICC t20 World Cup 2021 began. Harbhajan, following the fact that Pakistan were yet to win an ICC World Cup match versus India, told Akhtar to give the men in blue a walkover. He said playing would be pointless as Virat Kohli and co will easily win. Akhtar, later on, had a trump card to bash back at him and posted ‘where are you at’ after the men in green thrashed Hindustan away in their T20 World Cup opener on 24th October.
It was not a regular win but Harbhajan’s team was flailed in real means. After the batting collapse, which somehow posted 152 runs for the men in green to chase, they remained wicketless as Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, portraying brilliant batting showcase, folded up the game by 10 wickets sparing 13 balls.
As the two friends, Harbhajan and Shoaib, are spotted in a chat, the Pakistani bowler asked the Indian bowler what went wrong for Harbhajan’s side. The off-spinner replied after they lose their opener on very unfortunate terms, it shattered their confidence ahead of the next game versus New Zealand. Kohli and co were handed an 8-wicket defeat by the Black Caps.
He added,
Pakistan were determined to win against India. Their body language was unbelievable as they showed they have stepped in the ground to win the match. They beat New Zealand as if it was a minnow prospect.
Reasoning why Kohli’s men lost to New Zealand in another humiliating case, Harbhajan stated,
India and Pakistan match gives another level of courage to the winning side and we fell short on confidence.
Akhtar, agreeing to the fact that Kohli’s bowlers were not up to the mark against Akhtar’s team, added,
The blue bowlers did not even bowl a single bouncer to the green batters. India losing to Pakistan by 10 wickets was not acceptable.
Crediting the Englishmen, who qualified for the end stages despite not knowing the UAE conditions, Shoaib urged,
New Zealand qualified for the final despite not knowing the conditions of India-Pakistan second-home grounds.
Following the fact that there were numerous social media trolls after Harbhajan’s walkover statement, he said,
There was immense banter. Fans from either side do not have any right to abuse on winning or losing as it is part of the game. Cricketers are here to set good examples.
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Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan likely to miss Pak vs Aus semifinal
