Sunil Gavaskar disputes suggestions that Shaheen Afridi’s injury was a pivotal moment in the game’s outcome -‘England would still have won’. Following a right knee injury sustained in the final versus England. Shaheen Afridi was unable to finish his four overs in the game.
After Ben Stokes led England to win and their second T20 World Cup championship at the MCG. Pakistan’s hopes of emulating the glory of the 1992 World Cup came to an end. The injury to Pakistani bowler Shaheen Afridi prove to be the game’s deciding factor. However former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar believe that the Men in Green. Would have lost regardless of the star pacer’s condition.
Afridi seemed to hurt his right knee when taking a catch to remove Harry Brook. As he hobbled from the field. When the game was evenly poise and he eventually made it out to the field. He sprint in to bowl his third over of the game. But the left-arm pacer was only able to complete one delivery before being force to leave the field once more, this time permanently.
Pakistan’s hopes were fatally damaged by his injury, as Ben Stokes, who was in excellent form, paced his team’s victory smoothly in the end. While many analysts and spectators felt that Pakistan may have won the match if Shaheen hadn’t been hurt, former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar believes Pakistan would have fallen 15-20 runs short.
“I don’t think so, as they didn’t have enough runs on the board. They were around 15-20 runs short. Had they got to 150-155, they would have had a better chance and their bowlers would have had a bit of a cushion. But I don’t think the 10 deliveries that Shaheen didn’t bowl would have made that much of a difference. Maybe Pakistan would have got another wicket, but England would still have won,”
Gavaskar said.
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Babar Azam said: Shaheen’s injury cost us a different result
Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, expressed regret at the defeat and believed that his team fell short in the first innings by a few runs. But he thought Shaheen’s harm was the game’s deciding element. He praised his squad for having great grit and challenging England all the way in the championship match of the highlight event in Melbourne.
“We were 20 runs short but the fight to the last over was unbelievable. Our bowling is one of the best, but unfortunately, Shaheen’s injury cost us a different result, but that’s part of the game,”
Babar said.
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