Post-match Analysis – India vs Pakistan with Shane Watson & Anis Sajan

Shaheen Shah Afridi rattled the Indian top-order early in the game and bowled an excelled spell of 3/31 with two wickets in the powerplay after Babar Azam won the toss and asked India to bat first

Anis Sajan

A supremely stylish Babar Azam broke a 29-year-old jinx by guiding Pakistan to an emphatic 10-wicket victory over India in the ICC T20 World Cup here on Sunday, their first in 13 attempts against the bitter arch-rivals at a global event.

Shaheen Shah Afridi rattled the Indian top-order early in the game and bowled an excelled spell of 3/31 with two wickets in the powerplay after Babar Azam won the toss and asked India to bat first.

While reviewing the game on Mr. Anis Sajan’s Youtube show Cricket Unplugged with Anis Sajan, Shane Watson credited Shaheen Afridi for delivering a match-winning spell and shared about his experience playing against him.

I have faced Shaheen Shah Afridi, and he has done that to me. But the thing with him is that the ball swings in so late that it swings just before it is pitched, and it is difficult to negate with that pace. It was fast bowling at its best!

Watson further highlighted India did well in recovering and getting to a defendable total of 150 runs, with captain Virat Kohli scoring a half-century after the bad start in the powerplay.

The Indian bowlers lacked the firepower which the Pakistani bowlers had and were not able to challenge or put the openers under pressure, because of which the skills of Babar and Rizwan weren’t tested much.

Answering Mr. Anis Sajan’s question about RishabhPant’s Innings, Shane Watson said he played a very important inning, and his partnership with Virat was crucial getting India to a good total before he got out to a wrong’un by Shadab Khan.

He was also disappointed with the way Indian bowlers bowled, especially the Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who didn’t bowl the way he did in the past, which was even seen in the IPL. Babar and Rizwan played comfortably as the ball swung too early and not late. He found Babar Azam and Rizwan’s batting effortless and was impressed with how Babar bats.

Babar Azam is a beautiful batsman. He bats effortlessly like he is not taking any risks at all. He stands there at the crease and waits and allows the bowler to make a mistake because he has a lot of shots selection around the ground, said Shane Watson.

He even hailed Rizwan’s batting as he had never seen him opening the batting for Pakistan. He was mesmerized by the way he played and took on the bowling attack.

He concluded the interview talking about the confidence that Pakistan will be going into their next game against New Zealand and how the Kiwi’s would take on Pakistan, and how should India and Virat Kohli access the mistakes they did against Pakistan and turn things around when taking on New Zealand in a week.