The star of ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final and one of the rising stars of Pakistan cricket, Fakhar Zaman revealed in an interview that Indian cricketers, specially captain Virat Kohli and fast Jasprit Bumrah tried to sledge the Pakistani batters.
We all know that India vs Pakistan is one of the greatest rivalry in the sport and it has a lot of history. Over the years, we have seen cricketers from both nations having a go at each other during the matches. There are numerous occasions when the temperature rose more than usual during India-Pakistan cricket matches.
ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final was a big occasion and fans were hoping to see some individual battles in the middle. But, as we know, not everything that happens in the middle is shown on our television screens. And Fakhar Zaman revealed how Kohli and Bumrah tried to heckle him with some sledging.
Fakhar said that Kohli was consistently telling his bowlers that India need to take just one wicket and Pakistan’s batting order will collapse.
“There was a lot of chatter when Azhar Ali and I were at the crease. Virat was constantly saying, ‘Arre, ek wicket nikal jayega toh yeh saare out ho jaayenge.. Bas ek ko nikaalo jaldi’ (Take one wicket, rest will fell). Bumrah had me caught behind, but it was off a no ball. So, he was also very vocal.” said Fakhar Zaman.
Jasprit Bumrah bowled no-ball to Fakhar which turned out to be very costly in the end. Fakhar said that the fast bowler was very annoyed after that incident and he kept telling him to hit straight.
“On one occasion, he said, ‘Thoda saamne bhi run banaa le. Kab tak aise khelega?(Make some runs in front of the wicket’. How long are you going to play like this?)” But to be honest, the Indian players didn’t cross any line. Actually, that was purely cricket-related and positive sledging, which is fine. Everyone wants to see his team win and they do their best to achieve that,” the young Pakistani opener said.
