“India were lucky to win against Afghanistan,” quipped veteran sports writer Ayaz Memon on Sports Talk today.
And there is no doubting that. The Afghans dropped almost half a dozen catches which could have seen India in an embarrassing position against the minnows. But it did prove one thing— if a little better technically, the Afghans can trouble their opponents.
But before we go into that, Ayaz expressed worry over ‘several’ other areas of the Indian cricket team: “I thought we had sorted out some of the teams problems before the tournament, but they’ve erupted again— which is not a good sign. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag have had a very extended run of low scores. This means you have to chop up the opening order and play somebody else and that is sign of incompetence. The batting right now is revolving around one player— Kohli.”
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But batting is not the only problem. Ayaz believes that India’s pace spearhead Zaheer Khan is also looking lackluster, “Unless Zaheer is sharp enough, then Irfan needs to take wickets with far more consistently. We have three experienced bowlers and should be doing much better. Unless some things change in the team, I see a drastic change being made.”
Ayaz also discusses the England vs Afghanistan match and how the ‘bindaas’ Afghans could really trouble Kevin Pietersen-less England.
“If they can keep their bowling and fielding consistent over a period of 20 overs, then they can certainly do well against England.”
To listen to the full conversation between Pulasta Dhar and Ayaz Memon, check out the video.
