Veteran Indian wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik hailed Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill for coming up with a good attitude against Shaheen Afridi in the Asia Cup’s Super 4 round against Pakistan on Sunday. The Indian opening pair batted well in Colombo, putting together a partnership of more than 100 runs for the first wicket.
The Indian captain put on a 121-run opening-wicket stand with Shubman Gill both openers showed great intent before being dismissed in quick succession as the rain halted the day play during the 24th over of India’s batting innings. The game will resume from the same point on Monday, the reserve day.
Speaking on Cricbuzz, Dinesh Karthik feels that Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill’s approach against Shaheen Afridi would be worrying signs for Babar Azam and Co. going forward, as the Indian openers were dominant against the Left-arm pacer in the powerplay and lauded the Pakistan speedster for making comeback in the second spell to pick up the wickets in form Shubman Gill with his slower delivery.
“The way Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill batted vs Shaheen Afridi, will worry Pakistan. I think the conditions suited fast bowling at the start of the innings, but India called the shots.”
“It becomes tough as a batter to pick Shaheen Afridi’s slower delivery because of his wrist flick. Second time Shaheen Shah Afridi has deceived an Indian batter,” Dinesh Karthik said.
The opening duo has been successful in the top of the order for India, giving the team strong starts at the start of the innings in recent times and they displayed solid batting in the powerplay as the Pakistan primary pacer Shaheen Afridi found no clue to the aggressive approach of the Indian openers.
Shaheen Afridi Was Off-Colour And Tried Too Hard Today – Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis feels that Shaheen Afridi was totally off-color with the new ball failing to find the swing and rhythm against the Indian openers, who went hard at him from the outset of the innings. Younis believes the left-arm pacer tried too hard against India, which is why he gave them easy boundaries on Sunday.
“Shaheen was totally off-color with the new ball. Nobody in the Pakistan team line-up tried to bowl the short ball and the bouncers. The swing as there – Naseem showed it from the other end.”
“If you bowl in the right areas, you will trouble the batters. But Shaheen has to think hard, even in the previous match, although he bowled a brilliant 10 overs, he was off-color and tried too hard today and gave away easy boundaries,” Waqar Younis said.
Shaheen Afridi had a poor outing with the ball in the powerplay and was reintroduced into the attack in the middle overs. He succeeded in giving Pakistan its second wicket by tricking the young batting sensation Shubman Gill and would look to come good against India on the reserve day to pick up some crucial wickets in the middle and death overs of the game.