Not Shaheen; Ex-IND cricketer names a Pakistan pacer who will be threat to India on October 23
The biggest match of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia is scheduled to be played on October 23 (Sunday). It is the game when India will take on archrivals Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. All the tickets for this match have been sold out.
Thus, more than 100,000 spectators will be present at the stadium during the match. The atmosphere will be huge, and the excitement level has already reached its peak. Notably, Pakistan thrashed India in the last meeting in the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE by 10 wickets.
Both teams will look to assess the conditions and field the best set of players available for the match to show their dominance. For Pakistan, the biggest positive is the return of their premium pacer, Shaheen Afridi, after an injury. The left-armer suffered a knee injury two months ago in Sri Lanka.
But now he has suffered completely and also featured in both warm-up games for Pakistan and ended up with good performances. Thus, he will be the key man for Babar Azam and his team, because everyone still remembers the damage he did to India last time.
His match-winning spell left India with a humiliating 10-wicket loss, so Pakistan would like him to replicate the same performance this time around as well. However, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has a different opinion on this. He feels that more than Shaheen, Haris Rauf could prove to be a bigger threat to India.
Pakistan have one of the best pace bowling attacks in the competition. Shaheen, along with Rauf, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Wasim Jr., and Mohammed Hasnain, are all 145+ bowlers who can bowl at the highest speed consistently. But Aakash reckons that Rauf has got the skillset to create a problem against the Indian batting. The former cricketer took to Twitter and warned India.
But I do feel the bowler to be wary of on Sunday isn’t Shaheen. It’s Haris Rauf. Afridi is getting close to his best but isn’t there yet…and unlikely to be by the 23rd either. Rauf will bowl the tougher overs and has the potential to make a difference. #IndvPak #T20WorldCup
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 19, 2022
He tweeted, "But I do feel the bowler to be wary of on Sunday isn’t Shaheen. It’s Haris Rauf. Afridi is getting close to his best but isn’t there yet…and unlikely to be by the 23rd either. Rauf will bowl the tougher overs and has the potential to make a difference."
The former cricketer also praised left-armer Shaheen for his performance against Afghanistan in the second warm-up game on Wednesday. He dismissed Afghan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz with a vicious yorker. He ended up with a bowling figure of 2/29. On the other hand, Rauf also bowled well and picked up two wickets..
Full…swinging…fast. Shaheen Afridi is getting close to his best.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 19, 2022
Gurbaz’s toe agrees. 🫣 #T20WorldCup