 "Shahid Afridi hailed Team India’s mindset, particularly when it came to chasing, following their six-wicket victory over Pakistan in their Asia Cup Super 4s meeting in Dubai on Sunday, 21 September. Reuters/AP")
Former all-rounder Shahid Afridi joined other Pakistani ex-cricketers in heaping praise on the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian team after their six-wicket victory over the Men in Green in their Asia Cup Super 4s meeting on Sunday.
Abhishek Sharma led they way with an explosive 74 off just 39 balls and a massive 105-run opening stand with Shubman Gill as India chased down the competitive 172-run target set by Pakistan with more than an over to spare. Not only was it their fourth victory in as many matches in the ongoing tournament, it was also the seventh consecutive time India had beaten Pakistan in a completed game.
Rare praise for India from ‘Lala’
And according to former Pakistan captain Afridi, the “outstanding” Indian team could have easily chased down 200 as well with their “big game” mindset.
“India deserved the victory. Their attitude, mindset, their batting, bowling – I won’t mention their fielding today!- but overall mindset and they are big-game players,” Afridi, who largely been directing negative comments towards India and its cricket team in recent months, said on Samaa TV.
“This is the mindset used by big teams like Australia. You can see that approach. Pakistan made mistakes that added to the result but India are an outstanding team. I think even if they had scored 200, India would have got it,” he added.
Afridi questions Pakistan’s batting tactics
Afridi also criticised the Pakistanis for failing to make the most of a strong start, with Sahibzada Farhan’s 45-ball 58 helping them reach 91/1 at the halfway stage.
The 48-year-old felt that pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who has been making handy contributions with the bat down the order, should have been sent in ahead of someone like Hussain Talat at a time when their scoring rate had dropped in the middle overs.
“At one point I thought they would reach 190. But after 14-15 overs, for 18 balls you just make 14 runs and including the fact that there was a six in it …that’s an area of worry.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“They could have seen Shaheen in that middle overs phase, or even Haris Rauf. There would have been no issue. If the players lower are in form, then send. You know that Talat is not going to start hitting from the first ball. You could have told Shaheen to go and have a go – lag jaate toh lag jaate (might have connected a few times). That situation was not made for Talat,” he added.
India find themselves on top of the Super 4s points table after their convincing victory over their arch-rivals, with their Net Run Rate currently at +0.689. Pakistan, on the other hand, find themselves desperately needing a victory in their next outing – against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.