India easily defeated Pakistan in both of their Asia Cup matches. India now has a seven-match winning streak against its neighbours, and the gap in talent between the two squad appears to be widening.
While talent pool, fitness, application, and a variety of other factors have been cited as reasons why India is outpacing Pakistan, particularly in white-ball cricket, former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh believes that a lack of leadership and responsibility from Pakistan’s more experienced players has hurt them the most. In a sport won on the field, Pakistan relied more on mind games than the quality of play required to compete with India, which contributed significantly to the results.
“If talks were to win the game, I think they would have won,” Harbhajan said of the match on Sports Today. “But it was between bat and ball, and I think that’s where India were far, far ahead of Pakistan.”
Harbhajan was particularly scathing of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf, both of whom attempted to mock India’s openers, only to see Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma dominate their bowlers to a 105-run partnership.
“Their senior bowlers like Haris or Shaheen Shah Afridi, they went for plenty. They couldn’t get a single wicket in the first six overs. They are the most experienced players,” explained Harbhajan. “So if your experienced players are only shouting and talking, and not able to deliver with the ball or bat, you’ll see the results they are getting.”
Haris Rauf spent the second innings mocking the Indian fans in Dubai and got into verbal spats with Abhishek and Gill. While taking two wickets, Shaheen Afridi attempted to get inside the openers’ heads but was hit for 40 runs without taking wicketless in his spell.
Harbhajan was unconcerned with what was said on the field, claiming it didn’t matter as long as India maintained winning matches.
“Let them talk, we will talk with the bat and ball, and we will answer when required the best,” concluded the Indian spin bowling great.
Disclaimer: The story “‘Let them talk, we will talk with…’: Former India star gives blunt response to Pakistan’s on-field sledging” first appeared on Cricket Country and is syndicated via Digpu & NewsTex.