Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir believes that Team India is far stronger than Babar Azam’s Pakistan side, and that a bilateral series between these two teams, should they play now, would be heavily one-sided.
This assessment from Gautam Gambhir came following India’s thumping 7-wicket victory over Pakistan in their World Cup 2023 encounter at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
India’s bowlers forced a collapse as Pakistan slipped from 155/2 to 191 all-out. After that, captain and opener Rohit Sharma started off the chase in a stunning fashion, flicking Shaheen Afridi for a four first ball, and smashed 86 runs in 63 balls to put India in a winning position in the chase.
Gautam Gambhir said that earlier Pakistan used to thrash India, but in recent years, it’s been the Men In Blue who have been mostly dominant.
“Hammering along with domination. You use this word very rarely, that too when you are playing against Pakistan. If you see the results, Pakistan used to hammer India like this for a long time. However, for the last many years, India have dominated,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.
“This is bad for subcontinental cricket. We always used to say that if we have an India-Pakistan series it will be competitive. An India-Pakistan series is not going to be competitive at all because there is a massive difference between the two sides,” he added.
You were comparing Jasprit Bumrah with Shaheen Afridi: Gautam Gambhir
Jasprit Bumrah bowled a magnificent spell and one of the best-ever bowling performances in a World Cup game. He finished with match-winning figures of 7-1-19-2, his wickets including Mohammad Rizwan and Shadab Khan with two stunning deliveries.
Gautam Gambhir scoffed at the comparisons that were earlier made between Bumrah and Shaheen Afridi, who has looked out of form and down on pace in this tournament; Shaheen has not provided the same threat with the new ball in this tournament that he’s generally famous for.
“If any captain has Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav, it is a huge luxury. Out of 50 overs, you get 20 overs from bowlers who can give you wickets anytime. You were comparing Jasprit Bumrah with Shaheen Shah Afridi. Jasprit Bumrah’s first spell was under the 2 PM sun and he hardly gave any runs in his first four overs,” the 2011 World Cup winner asserted.
