Former India batter Aakash Chopra called out Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan for comparing Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja to Salman Ali Agha and Khushdil Shah. For the uninitiated, Pakistani media asked Rizwan tough questions after Pakistan faced a six-wicket against India in the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy Group A encounter at the Dubai International Stadium.
Virat Kohli hit his 51st ODI ton and 82nd international century to help India chase down 242 with ease. Pakistan are now being questioned for having just one frontline spinner (Abrar Ahmed) on the squad while the other teams have multiple options in their squad.
When Rizwan was asked about this, he compared Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja with his part-time spinners. Former India batter Aakash Chopra has poked fun at the Pakistan captain, saying “delulu is the only sululu’.
“Pakistan skipper Rizwan believes that Salman Agha and Khushdil Shah are of the same quality (as bowlers) as Jadeja and Axar. You can’t make these things up. Delulu Is The Only Sululu,” he wrote on X.
“Please stay like this, Pakistan. Even though matches are one-sided…Pakistan’s meme game and cricket content is top-class after the loss,” he added.
After the fixture against India ended, a reporter asked Rizwan whether having just one specialist spinner in the squad was a mistake.
To this question, Rizwan replied, “No, you can’t say anything like that – that we made a mistake by picking just one spinner. If you look at that Indian team, also they have Kuldeep as the front-line spinner. Jadeja is like an all-rounder, Axar Patel is like an all-rounder. We also have Salman Ali Agha – he bowled very well in other countries as well and Khushdil Shah, they bowled very well like in the past.”
“We need wickets in that particular time in ODIs especially. If we didn’t take wickets in the middle overs – you can’t win the matches. But this is a question, I will give you an answer to that. Like we all have three who always performed well, Shaheen, Naseem, and Haris, they performed very well. But today was not a day you can’t say like that,” he added.
Against India, Pakistan posted 241 runs after opting to bat first. However, Pakistan’s bowlers were not able to strike consistently, and this led to India winning the match with six wickets in hand and 45 balls to spare.
Pakistan are now all but out of the tournament and a Bangladesh defeat against New Zealand will confirm their elimination.
Buttler's side won only three of nine matches as defending champions at the 50-over World Cup in India in 2023. Last year they reached the semi-finals in their
Feb 24, 2025, 12:03 PM ET"Come on, Basil. Be our Jason Gillespie."Kerala head coach Amay Khurasiya was getting behind his No. 11 at the start of the third day's
Mohammad Rizwan-led Pakistan crashed out of ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 after New Zealand defeated Bangladesh by five wickets in their Group A encounter a
Last Updated:February 24, 2025, 19:30 ISTPCB plans to sack interim head coach Aaqib Javed and his staff after the 2025 Champions Trophy due to poor performance.