Former Indian batter Robin Uthappa made an interesting claim regarding Pakistani bowlers as the arch-rivals India and Pakistan are all set to lock horns in the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup 2023 on September 10 in Colombo.
This Asia Cup has injury-riddled squads and rain-affected grounds, but it is Pakistan's pace attack which became the centre of attention.
Despite getting their top-order rattled by the Pakistani pace factory in the group-stage encounter, Uthappa stated that if Pakistan have pace, India have batters to tackle them.
"Well, they do have some quick and skilled bowlers, and Shaheen Shah Afridi has been in amazing form recently. Haris Rauf is also performing well. That being said, I believe we have batters in our team who are capable of handling all of them,” he said.
Former Indian cricketer and current commentator Aakash Chopra also praised the Pakistani trio and their impeccable form.
"It was a very flat track and the Pakistani trio Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Naseem Shah bowled incredibly well to pick up wickets there. Their fast bowling is absolutely top-class. They didn’t even let Bangladesh reach a target of 200 in an absolute road like surface,” said Chopra while hosting JioCinema’s daily sports show #AAKASHVANI.
On a flat track that was suitable for batters, the Pakistani pace trio of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf restricted Bangladesh to 193 runs in their first Super Four clash with the latter bowling a match-winning spell of 4/19 in six overs.
They also lead the wicket-taking chart of the Asian event with 23 combined wickets in three games.
It must be noted that the Pakistan-India encounter in the group stage was interrupted by rain as the Green Shirts did not even get to bat in the second innings.
In the first innings, India posted 266 while batting first, thanks to Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya's 138-run partnership as they were 66-4 in 14.1 overs.
But Shaheen Afridi did what he does best with the new ball and sent India's most experienced batters — Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli — back to the pavilion.
Their next clash on September 10 is also likely to be highly affected by rain.