Asia Cup 2022: Waqar Younis clarifies his controversial 'Big relief for India' statement on Shaheen Afridi’s injury

Pakistan pace sensation Shaheen Shah Afridi was ruled out of the 2022 Asia Cup last week after the pacer had suffered a right knee ligament injury while fielding during the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle last month. The news came as a big setback for the Babar Azam-led side as Shaheen played a big role in Pakistan’s massive win against India at the T20 World Cup 2021. The fast bowler had accounted for the wickets of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli as India lost by 10 wickets to Pakistan in the marquee tournament. It was also the first time India lost to Pakistan in a World Cup match. Meanwhile, reflecting on Shaheen’s injury, former Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis had tweeted that Shaheen’s absence will be a huge relief for India batters in Asia Cup. “Shaheen’s injury Big relief for the Indian top order batsmen. Sad we won’t be seeing him in #AsiaCup2022 Get fit soon Champ @iShaheenAfridi,” he posted.

But his tweet did not go down well with the Indian fans who slammed the former Pakistan captain for making an immature comment, arguing that Indians have now chalked out a plan for Shaheen. Now, Waqar has cleared the air on his controversial statement and said that he was only praising Shaheen and didn’t mean to belittle India batters’ skills. “Shaheen ki absence ek big relief toh hai saare openers ke liye. Indians ka maine bas thoda masala… but ye bhi mohabbat nai, aisa nahi hai ke koi dushmani hai. (Shaheen’s absence is a big relief to all openers but I tweeted about Indians just to spice it up. It’s just banter and I don’t have any hatred towards anyone)” Younis told sports journalist Vimal Kumar in an interaction hosted by OneCricket. “I can point out some technical issues as well. If you look at the history, Indian openers in World Cup or Champions Trophy struggle against left-arm pacers who bring the ball back into right-handers. A left-arm fast bowler who gets the ball to move in will trouble anyone, not just Indians. Any batter would not like the ball coming in towards the stumps. As a bowler, I always advise hitting the top of those three stumps. Shaheen’s delivery comes in nicely from a good height… that is a big problem for the openers,” he added. Notably, Mohammad Hasnain has replaced Shaheen Afridi in Pakistan’s 15-member squad for the T20 Asia Cup 2022. Pakistan’s squad for Asia Cup: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Hasan Ali, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Hasnain.