Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Fazalhaq Farooqi exposed India’s issues against left-arm pace in their 2024 T20 World Cup Super 8 match with Afghanistan as well. The highest wicket-taker of the tournament registered figures of 3-33 in four overs to put the Indian team on the back foot as well. Despite Farooqi’s spell, India posted 181-8 after opting to bat first in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Thursday, June 20 and eventually registered a 47-run win.
While talking about India’s batting in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “India batted first after winning the toss. We had discussed this as well that there is an advantage here if you bat first. Teams batting first are winning and India also showed that by doing it. However, they stumbled a little. It has been a problem. We are struggling a little against left-arm pace. Rohit Sharma was trying but he got out. He hit the ball straight up in the air and got out. The bowler’s name was Fazalhaq Farooqi. Mohammad Nabi was bowling from the other end, and India were kept on a tight leash. Virat Kohli remained quiet for a long time. Then he hit a good six, reached 24, but then he also got out.”
“Everyone was saying that the wicket was slightly difficult for batting, the ball was sticking a little, but Rishabh Pant said that the pitch seemed road-like to him.”However, when he got out to Rashid Khan’s bowling, we stumbled a little. Then when Shivam Dube got out, four wickets had fallen, and you knew you had to play a lot of balls, things seemed to be stumbling,” he further added.
While saying that Rohit Sharma (8 off 13) fell prey to Farooqi, the former India opener again added that Virat Kohli got out for a run-a-ball 24. While Pant scored 20 off 11, Dube scored a seven-ball 10 as well.
“The train was trying to run very fast but the chain was pulled and the train was stopped. However, Suryakumar Yadav came there.”Everyone dreams of playing an extended innings, which wasn’t fulfilled in New York. He played a good knock there as well, but here he played incredibly well. No one plays Rashid Khan better than him. He doesn’t get out to him at all. He keeps playing sweeps and Rashid, for some strange reason, has no answer. The pitch seemed slightly difficult, but when Surya started playing, Afghanistan were singed in his heat,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
