Asia Cup 2022: Wasim Akram points out a big mistake by Babar Azam that cost Pakistan match against India – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram pointed out one big mistake that Babar Azam made during Pakistan’s five-wicket loss against India in their Asia Cup 2022 campaign opener at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing 148 to win, the Men in Blue rode on the crucial partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya to cross the finishing line, while Virat Kohli, who was returning from a month-long break, also contributed with a well-made 35 off 34 balls.

Meanwhile, Pakistan legend Akram said that Pakistan skipper Azam’s made one huge mistake as a captain as he saved one over of left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, who dismissed Rohit Sharma and Kohli in successive overs, till the very end of the match.

Notably, Babar put a hold on Nawaz after he bowled the 12th over and only brought back the spinner to bowl the last six balls of the match.

“I like this T20 type of pitch. I enjoyed watching bowlers bowl bouncers and getting wickets, both sides. It was a good cricketing game that went down to the wire till the last over. Babar made one mistake. He should have had Nawaz bowl the 13th or 14th over. It was too late. You can’t have a spinner in T20s bowling in the last 3 to 4 overs, especially against the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya,” Akram said on Star Sports after the end of the match.

Akram also praised Pakistan pacers while asserting that the country’s fast bowling future is bright.

“He is a very clever bowler, Nawaz. He had just bowled the straighter one, got the inside edge. Well done India. They won the game. Congratulations. But I was impressed by Pakistan’s bowlers. Dahani, playing his 3rd or 4th game, Naseem Shah, 20-21 years-old playing his first game, Haris Rauf has been consistent for Pakistan and every bowler tried their heart out. You can see that the future is bright for Pakistan as far as fast bowling is concerned,” added Akram.

Coming to the match, Pakistan were bundled out for 148 in 19.4 overs. Opener Mohammed Rizwan (43) and Iftikhar Ahmed (28) were the only ones who could contribute something decent with the bat. The pace and short-length deliveries of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/26), Hardik Pandya (3/25) and Arshdeep Singh (2/33) and Avesh Khan (1/19) blew away Pakistani batters and wickets fell at a regular rate.

Chasing 148, India lost KL Rahul for a duck in the very first over. After this, Kohli (35) anchored the innings and stitched a 49-run stand with skipper Rohit (12), who largely struggled at the other end.

However, twin strikes from Nawaz, who took Sharma and Kohli’s wickets restricted India to 3/53. Following this, a 36-run stand between Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav helped move the scoreboard, before the latter fell to debutant Naseem Shah for 18. A 52-run stand between Jadeja (35) and Hardik Pandya (33*) followed, which took India close to a win and in-form Pandya finished the proceedings with a six with two balls to spare, giving India a five-wicket win.

Nawaz (3/33) and Naseem Shah (2/27) bowled really well for Pakistan, though not enough to give them a win. Pandya was adjudged as ‘Man of the Match’ for his all-round performance.