“Dusre Achaar Bechne Aye Hue Hain?”: Ex-Pakistan Star After Babar Azam-Led Side’s Loss To England

England defeated Pakistan in the first Test on Monday.© AFP

England defeated Pakistan by 74 runs in a thrilling first Test of the three-match series at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Monday. Guest skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bat first. England scored 657 runs in their first innings that included a world record of 500 or more runs in the first day of a Test match. Meanwhile, Pakistan put a good total of 579 in response. In their next innings, England skipper Stokes made a bold move to declare at 264 for 7, setting a 343-run target for Pakistan before his side bundled out the chasing team for 268.

The win sees England receive a lot of praise for their approach in the game, which for a point in time seemed to end in a draw or go in favour of Pakistan.

Lashing out at the losing side, former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria said harsh words for the national team. He added that the management, captain and PCB chief would now say that they didn’t have Shaheen Afridi for the game and that played a major role in the loss. While saying this, Kaneria also questioned if other players in the team are there to sell pickles.

“Abhi yahan par jo management aake baat karegi, Babar Azam jo baat krenge aur PCB ke head baat karenge ke ‘achi cricket kheli England ne, bohot achi cricket kheli, hame unse seekhna chahiye’. Abe bhai seek lo na, kab seekhoge, time guzar jayega tab seekhoge kya. Uske baad aapke log aake kahenge, ‘yaar khuda ka nizaam aisa ke hamari position achi nahi thi. Hamara Shaheen nahi tha.’ Abhi daal denge Shaheen ke upar. Bhai wo nahi tha to kya hogya, dusre achaar bechne aye hue hain? Planning kahan hai? Strategy kahan hai? (Now the management, Babar Azam and PCB head will say ‘England played extremely good cricket, we should learn from them’. Then learn! Are you going to learn when the time passess by? After that you guys will say that ‘our situation was not well. We didn’t have Shaheen Afridi’. What happened if Shaheen is not there in team? Are the rest of the players there to sell pickles? Where is your planning? Where is your strategy?)” said Kaneria on his YouTube channel.