India emerged victorious in the high-octane Asia Cup encounter against nemesis Pakistan on Sunday. All-rounder Hardik Pandya starred with bat and ball to seal a five-wicket triumph in Dubai. Former opener Salman Butt has slammed Pakistan batters for their poor showing against India as they got bowled out for just 147 runs failing to play the entire 20 overs. Butt urged his fellow countrymen to learn to deal with high-quality short-pitched bowling if they have to compete at the highest level.
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On a pitch with some bounce, the Indian pacers bowled with pace and venom while using the short ball to their advantage. None of the Pakistan batters managed to counter the short ball ploy and perished on the night. Pakistan’s ace batter Babar Azam was the first to bite the dust as he top-edged Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s bouncer only to be caught at fine leg.
Fakhar Zaman edged a slower bouncer from Avesh Khan to the keeper. Pandya then removed Mohammed Rizwan and Khushdil Shah after banging in short to demolish Pakistan’s middle-order.
In an interview with Pakistan sports outlet GNN, Butt deemed that Pakistan has struggled a lot with short balls and their weakness on bouncy tracks is quite evident. “Pakistan lost all of their first five wickets to bouncers. The case is the same since 2019. They faced issues (short ball) on the tour of New Zealand and they faced the same problem in Australia. Even in the 2019 World Cup, West Indies dismissed Pakistan batters through bouncers," Butt said in the interview.
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The pitch had grass on top which enticed the Indian bowlers to pitch it up in the initial overs. Once Bhuvneshwar Kumar and co. realized there wasn’t much swing on offer, they bowled more back-of-a-length deliveries against the Pakistan batters.
Butt, a former Pakistan captain, said if the side has to perform well in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia, their batters must improve their ability to play short balls.
“The T20 World Cup is in Australia, where the grounds are big and pitches are fast. So it’s necessary for Pakistan batters to start their preparations of facing short balls," Butt added.
After their defeat to India, Pakistan will now clash against Hong Kong on September 2, in their last Group match of Asia Cup 2022.
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