Credit: Twitter
Wasim Akram, one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, has voiced his frustration at Babar Azam for receiving signed Indian jerseys from Virat Kohli in front of the cameras, after a humiliating loss in the ODI World Cup 2023. The 57-year-old was dissecting the performance of the Men in Green on one of the sports channels in Pakistan after India got the better of them by seven wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
For the unversed, the decision from Rohit Sharma to field first didn’t pay dividends for Team India in the first half of the Pakistan innings. When the scorecard read 155-2 in the 30th over, Babar Azam lost his wicket against the run of play to Mohammed Siraj, who castled him for 50 off 58, triggering a batting collapse.
The Men in Green were bundled out for 191 within 43 overs, with five of the Indian bowlers sharing two wickets each amongst themselves. Then, Rohit Sharma made light work of the 192 target, smashing 86 off 63, an innings filled with six fours and six maximums, to help India take their ODI World Cup winning streak to 8-0 against Pakistan.
Afterward, when Wasim Akram spotted Babar Azam getting signed Indian jerseys from Virat Kohli, he was quoted as saying, "Today was not the day to do this. Agar karna hai, chache ke puttar ne keh diya hai ki t-shirt chahiye Kohli ki, toh match ke baad dressing room se jaake le lo (If you want to do this, your uncle’s son has told you that he wants the t-shirt of Kohli, then after the match, go and take it from the dressing room)."
Watch the tirade from Wasim Akram here:
In spite of the criticism from Wasim Akram in regards to seeing Babar Azam mingling with Virat Kohli in front of the camera, after Pakistan lost to India, many of the cricket fans have found the aforementioned gesture to be beautiful.
