Former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt slammed the side’s batting approach against Hasaranga on Friday
Pakistan batters were struggling with the bat in the super 4 clash against Sri Lanka bowers in the middle-overs on Friday while Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga on Friday drove Sri Lanka’s bowling to energize to set up a comfortable five-wicket win over Pakistan.
Pakistan batters were struggling with the bat in the super 4 clash against Sri Lanka bowers in the middle-overs on Friday.
Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga on Friday drove Sri Lanka’s bowling to energize to set up a comfortable five-wicket win over Pakistan as he twirled his web around the opposition players to return figures of 3-21, which ultimately prompted Pakistan to be bowled out for 121 in 19.1 overs.
Hasaranga clean bowled Babar Azam and completed his spell with two successive wickets of Iftikhar Ahmed and Asif Ali to straighten the opposition batting, which couldn’t endure the allotted 20 overs. Spinner Mahesh Theekshana and debutant pacer Pramod Madushan took two wickets each as Pakistan continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.
Captain Babar Azam named the game as a decent opportunity for experience but former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt slammed the side’s batting approach against Hasaranga.
“The way Pakistan’s batters got out was quite disappointing. All their lives they have played tape ball cricket. How can they not read Hasaranga’s variations from the finger?”
said Butt on his YouTube channel.
“Straight finger means the ball will spin away and behind the hand means the delivery will come in. Iftikhar Ahmed could not read a googly in an earlier match. In this game as well, he couldn’t pick the variation,”
he added.
“The kind of shots Pakistan batters played, I won’t call it a bad day for them. I would describe it as a very poor shot selection. We could have said it was a bad day for them if they had some poor luck. However, batters were getting dismissed due to their inability to pick bowlers’ variations.”
“I am sure Pakistan will be a different team in the final. They will come in with a different attitude. Having said that, there are serious batting concerns. Pakistan has won games by showing brilliance in patches. There has been no wholesome performance,”
Butt explained.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Hasnain, Hasan Ali.
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Ashen Bandara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwanidu Fernando, Nuwan Thusara, Dinesh Chandimal.