Pakistan were handed out a 228-run defeat against India in their Super Four clash in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 at the R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Monday (September 11) which resulted in serious questions being raised on the Green Shirts' underwhelming display.
From fans to former cricketers, everyone has talked about a number of things Pakistan need to address if they are serious about the upcoming ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 which is scheduled in India between October - November.
Similarly, former Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi talked about Pakistan's intent after they were outclassed by India in all aspects of the game.
Afridi, 46, took to his X, formerly known as Twitter, account and weighed in on Pakistan's defeat saying that win or loss is part of the game but the way the Green Shirts lost wasn't acceptable.
"Winning/losing is part of competing, but not putting up a fight, not showing intent to win is just poor. Exactly what I was referring to in my previous tweet," Afridi said on X.
Boom Boom also congratulated India for playing an all-round game and he mentioned Virat Kohli — who completed 13,000 ODI runs and became the fastest to do so in 267 innings.
"India played as #1 on the field, batting & bowling. Congrats @imVkohli on achieving another dream milestone of ODI runs and well-crafted 💯 by you and KL Rahul. Chin up boys, you can do better than this, next match #PakvsInd," Afridi added.
It must be noted that in response to India's colossal target of 357 runs, the Men in Green were restricted to 128-8 in 32 overs with Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf not coming out to bat due to injuries.
Spinner Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for India with figures of 5-25 in eight overs.
In a sorry batting display, Fakhar Zaman top-scored for Pakistan with 27 runs in 50 balls while Agha Salman and Iftikhar Ahmed scored 23 runs each.
After a big-margin defeat, Pakistan's net run rate (NRR) is now negative and the qualification scenario for the final of the Asian event has become difficult for Babar Azam's men.
- Shahid Afridi
