Sunil Gavaskar took a dig at Pakistani captain Babar Azam's statement of 'many thanks to India'!

PC: CricTracker

The India vs. Pakistan match on September 2 may have been abandoned due to rain, but Shaheen Shah Afridi wreaked havoc on India's top-order and dismissed batsmen. Pakistan's pace master took the wickets of both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the rain-affected match between the arch-rivals in Asia Cup 2023.

Even though Shaheen Afridi took over the Indian top order with a masterclass in bowling, legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar still feels that Babar Azam's Pakistan didn't play their cards right in the match against India.

Sunil Gavaskar said that Babar Azam's change in bowling has nothing to do with him.

Speaking to India Today, Sunil Gavaskar said, "I think the bowling change didn't make sense because if you have three bowlers, with the fast bowlers taking the early wickets, you can lose at least one wicket from one end." Want to keep it going. You know you can't really bowl long spells, but one person could bowl from one end and Shadab or Nawaz could bowl from the other end."

Sunil Gavaskar said that Babar Azam missed India's opening match of the Asia Cup and further said that the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team managed to bounce back despite the top-order collapse.

Hardik Pandya and Ishaan Kishan scored half-centuries to help India. Both the batsmen scored 138 runs off 141 balls. 

Sunil Gavaskar said that if Pakistani fast bowlers had dismissed Pandya or Kishan first, India would have struggled to cross the 200 mark. When Shaheen Afridi returned to the field to dismiss Hardik Pandya, India had scored 239 runs in 43 overs.

Sunil Gavaskar further added, "I mean India will thank you very much because that's what allowed the partnership to flourish because otherwise if a fast bowler had taken just one wicket between Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya, India would probably have Had to struggle to reach even 175, 200.”