Former Pakistan fast bowler Aaqib Javed believes India failed to recover from Shaheen Afridi’s spell in their first match against Pakistan. Aaqib stated that India appeared scared when they stepped onto the field to face New Zealand and were unable to perform to expectations due to Shaheen’s spell in the back of their minds.
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India has lost their second consecutive T20 World Cup match and is on the verge of being eliminated from the mega event. India is currently fifth in the table and will need a miracle to advance to the T20 World Cup semi-finals.
Aaqib believes that Pakistan shook India’s confidence, and that Shaheen Afridi’s spell at the start of their innings contributed to their elimination from the tournament. He claimed that India panicked after losing the toss and decided to drop Rohit Sharma to one down to avoid a situation similar to Shaheen.
“Rohit Sharma is one of the best players in T20 cricket, but you changed your openers after one blow from Shaheen Shah Afridi.” You brought in Ishan Kishan as a left-handed batsman because they were afraid of putting two right-handed batsmen against [Trent] Boult, so Rohit was made to bat at number three.
“It was only two overs [of the opening spell], and Rohit, being one of the best in the world, should have gone out as an opener rather than hiding,” Aaqib said.
The former world-cup-winning fast bowler also questioned India’s body language, claiming that the team was already defeated before the first ball of the match. He stated that they were afraid to play their shots and succumbed to the pressure of the big event.
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