Saeed Ajmal takes a dig at Pakistan: The former Pakistani spinner saw the funny side of a substandard batting performance.
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During the 16th match of the ongoing eighth edition of ICC T20 World Cup between India and Pakistan in Melbourne, Pakistani batters didn’t live up to the occasion of taking part in the biggest rivalry in Cricket.
Put in to bat first by India captain Rohit Sharma, Pakistan put on display a completely contrasting performance from their heroic effort against the same opposition at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium last year.
Barring batter Iftikhar Ahmed’s second T20I half-century, no other Pakistani batter was able to create any impact in front of a jam-packed Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Although the innings is currently in progress, Pakistan have lost six wickets with Shan Masood and Asif Ali batting in the middle. With three fast bowlers not known for their batting skills to follow, Masood and Ali will have to make most of the death overs as their last recognized batting pair to give some cushion to their bowlers.
Saeed Ajmal takes a dig at Pakistan batting failure vs India in T20 World Cup 2022
Former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal took to social media platform Twitter to take a slight dig at Pakistan’s performance in this match. Taking reference from former captain and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s iconic line (“Ghabrana nahi hai” which translates to “Don’t worry”), Ajmed hinted at not worrying not working on this particular occasion.
Ahmed, 32, was sent in to bat at No. 4 after Pakistan lost opening batters within the first four overs. Having played at a strike rate of less than 100 for the first 24 deliveries that he faced, Ahmed particularly attacked Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel to press the accelerator.
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It was right after the halfway mark that the right-handed batter hit Ashwin for a massive six only to follow it with three similar confident shots off Patel in the next over.
UPDATE: A 16-ball 31-run eighth-wicket partnership between Shan Masood (52*) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (16) has powered Pakistan to a respectable total of 159/8 in 20 overs.
