Babar Azam (50) and Mohammad Rizwan (49) starred with the bat for Pakistan against India in ODI World Cup 2023 match.
New Delhi: Shoaib Akhtar slammed Pakistan’s pathetic batting display after the Men in Green fell like a pack of cards against India during their ODI World Cup 2023 match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday. India are playing Pakistan for the third time ODIs this year with the previous two games coming in the Asia Cup 2023.
Sent into bat first, Pakistan made a steady start with Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq putting in 41 runs for the first wicket. However, the Indian team fought back with a couple of wickets before Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan steadied the ship with an 82-run stand for the third wicket.
However, the wicket of Babar triggered a Pakistan collapse as they lost their last eight wickets for just 36 runs to be all out for 191 runs in 42.5 overs. “What a waste of opportunity on a great batting wicket. Disappointed. Very disappointed,” Akhtar posted on X (formerly Twitter).
What a waste of opportunity on a great batting wicket. Disappointed. Very disappointed. pic.twitter.com/2EnC1z9zni
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) October 14, 2023
Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja, all took two wickets each for India.
Earlier, India won the toss and elected to bowl against Pakistan. Indian captain Rohit Sharma said Shubman Gill, who missed the first two matches because of dengue, will play in place of Ishan Kishan. “Gill is back in place of Ishan. Unfortunate for Ishan to miss out, feel for him.
“He stepped up when we needed him. Gill has been a special player for us over the past year or so, especially at this ground and we wanted him back,” said Rohit at the toss. Pakistan captain Babar Azam said they will field an unchanged side from the last match.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf.
