Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra took a cheeky dig at the Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman, who struggled to get going against the Indian bowlers on Monday, and raised his concerns regarding the performance of the Pakistan skipper Babar Azam against arch-rivals India in International cricket.
Team Indian bowlers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, and Hardik Pandya were highly impressive against the arch-rivals, as they displayed high-quality bowling against the Pakistan top-order batters, who were completely clueless in the seam-friendly conditions of Colombo.
Analyzing India’s bowling performance against Pakistan, Aakash Chopra lauded Jasprit Bumrah for his brilliant bowling with the new ball and took a slight dig at Fakhar Zaman for not being able to play the Indian speedster in the powerplay.
“Jasprit Bumrah started it. Imam-ul-Haq, who was struggling at the start, got an outside edge, and a good catch was taken in the slips. It seemed like Fakhar Zaman had come on a tourist visa because Bumrah was bowling and the keeper was catching the ball repeatedly.”
Chopra praised Hardik Pandya for picking up the prized wicket of Babar Azam, with a brilliant incoming ball, and questioned the Pakistan skipper’s struggles against the Indian team.
“Then Hardik Pandya came and dismissed Babar Azam. Now that’s a question – we say our players will be judged by how they fare against Australia or Pakistan, then why not Babar Azam? He still does not have even a single ODI fifty against India. So he is struggling a little bit against India,” Aakash Chopra said.
The Pakistan skipper struggled against Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj before Hardik Pandya ended his innings with a brilliant incoming ball on Monday. Pandya rattled Babar with a peach of a delivery that jagged back into the batter, which ended up dismissing the Pakistan skipper.
It Was A Defeat That You Don’t Forget Easily – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra raised his concerns regarding the ability of the Pakistan batters against the leg-spin bowling, where they struggled to get going over the last few years, and believes that the Men in Green won’t be able to forget this defeat for a longer time.
“Shardul Thakur came and dismissed Mohammad Rizwan and then Kuldeep Yadav. He took as many as five wickets. Pakistan are weak against the leg-spin for some reason, don’t know why. They tend to struggle against leg-spinners.”
“Kuldeep is any case a left-arm left-arm leg-spinner, so the problems increase even further. They were destroyed. Eight wickets fell, and two guys didn’t come to bat – Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf. It was a defeat that you don’t forget easily,” Aakash Chopra added.
Kuldeep Yadav was key to India’s dominance as he shut out the entire middle order and opener Fakhar Zaman with brilliance with the ball past the powerplay and could be key to the Indian team’s success going forward in the Asia Cup 2023 followed by the ODI World Cup in India.