Winning Champions Trophy was a fluke for Pakistan, admits Wasim Akram

[Switchblade]

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https://www.crictracker.com/winning-champions-trophy-was-a-fluke-for-pakistan-admits-wasim-akram/

 

Pakistan’s double jeopardy against India within five days in the Asia Cup has left the supporters and former players devastated and distraught. Sarfraz Ahmed’s team was left looking a hapless lot by Rohit Sharma’s far clinical side as the former champions were routed by 8 wickets and 9 wickets, respectively, in their two encounters in the tournament so far. More than the loss, it was the manner in which the team lost the games that hurt the former players more.

 

Former captain Wasim Akram was particularly brutal when it came to analysing the team’s performance. A warrior of many battles between the two arch-rivals, the 52-year-old said Pakistan were not helping their own cause by playing lesser teams like Zimbabwe and that the Men in Green needed to shed their ‘Champions Trophy-winning baggage’ and look forward.

 

No point in playing lesser teams

Speaking to Aaj Tak from Dubai, Akram said: “I played for Pakistan for 20 odd years. I never thought I would live to see this day. The way we got thrashed… one-sided games. We need to play less against the low-ranked sides. I am all promotion of the game… one off it’s fine. But going to Zimbabwe, playing five one-days, three T20s. What is Pakistan team gaining from these tours? Nothing. They go and score runs there, hit double hundreds, but when they play good bowling, good teams, they come under pressure. We need to strengthen our team and play good teams in their home.”

When he was asked whether the team was still living in the past, basking the glory of their Champions Trophy victory last year, Akram said: “These defeats will at least get Pakistan rid of their Champions Trophy nostalgia. There is no relevance of the Champions Trophy win which came one-and-half years ago. India’s main player Virat Kohli didn’t even come and God knows what would have happened had he been around.”

 

He also praised India for their show in all departments and said they are miles ahead of Pakistan in all departments. “When we played India, they used to be under pressure. Now, Pakistan experience what India used to in the 90s. There will be wins or losses but there should have been at least some fight,” he said on the show which also had Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and former Indian all-rounder, Madan Lal.

 

 

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Pakistan were only playing, not to win

“There’s a big difference between these two teams. This Pakistani team doesn’t have it in them to compete with the Indian team. They were only playing the game but not to win. India are the No.1 contender to win the Asia Cup. India remain the favourites,” Harbhajan told India Today in an exclusive talk.

“Rohit is a class apart. Shikhar is a very talented batsman. The kind of bowling attack we have it’s tough to compete against us. India have the experience…MS Dhoni, Rohit, Dhawan, Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar and even Ambati Rayudu. In Pakistan, barring Shoaib Malik there’s no other player who has this kind of exposure. That is the difference between the two teams,” he added.

 

Harbhajan particularly praised Rohit who has been in fine touch in this Asia Cup, failing only against qualifiers Hong Kong. The 31-year-old batsman was picked as India’s captain in the absence of Virat Kohli who was rested for the tournament and he hasn’t disappointed so far.

India will play Afghanistan in their final Super Fours game at Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday. Afghanistan lost two games closely and are out of the race for the final.

https://www.crictracker.com/this-pakistan-team-doesnt-have-it-in-them-to-challenge-india-harbhajan-singh/

 

[DHONI_FANN]

Hopefully deluded Pakistani fans will realise this too

[mishra]

2 minutes ago, Switchblade said:

 

As soon as Tendulkar walked in, Our team was different side. Even before that too, Pakistani won only in Sharjah where they played with 13 players.

Akram needs to go back and check how ridiculously easy, India beat Pakistan in 1985 World series finals. Even in that too Imran wasnt given out

 

[Suhaan]

Pak maintained their so called better head to head record by playing in desert courtesy rigged umpires

[Nikola]

No they batted & bowled well and deserved victory on that day. They went as under dogs. Can't really say complete fluke but yeah on other day we might have stopped them on less runs and chased the total but their bowlers with bit of swing can be really lethal in England conditions. We can't take them or any team lightly.

[Vilander]

they deserved the CT win they batted and bowled like champs -> but they are not good enough to do it again and again. So they will fail 9 times out of 10. 

[Sonix768]

I dont agree that Pak CT win was fluke. You dont win agsinst SA, SL, Eng, Ind on trot by fluke. Lucky may be (SL's pathetic catching,rain vs SA, Kohli's blunder at toss, Bumrah no ball) but no fluke. they won fair and square.

[sandeep]

5 hours ago, mishra said:

As soon as Tendulkar walked in, Our team was different side. Even before that too, Pakistani won only in Sharjah where they played with 13 players.

Akram needs to go back and check how ridiculously easy, India beat Pakistan in 1985 World series finals. Even in that too Imran wasnt given out

 

I was thinking about this tournament yesterday.  It was very similar to the domination that we have been inflicting on the greenbros for the last few years.

 

 

[AdnanSiddiqui]

India surely playing better cricket. no one can stop praising the brand of cricket they are showcasing in this tournament ... but what these big mouth will do if India loose the final after dominating the whole tournament against same Pakistani team just like Champions Trophy? ... A shutup call for few more months? ... Let's see - it will be interesting

[flamy]

They were the better team in the CT final. But, they are not consistent. 1/10 chance of them winning, which would be rightly referred to as an upset. Another way of saying fluke win, I guess, but I wouldn't call it a fluke, they have the talent and are expected to cause an upset.

[vvvslaxman]

I never had more confidence than ever against Pakistan team than in the CT final. I thought it was going to be an epic whopping for Pakistan. Even Pakistan fans thought so. Lot of things went too perfectly for Pakistan on that day. Noball, big total, Indian top order collapse.

[raki05]

4 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

I never had more confidence than ever against Pakistan team than in the CT final. I thought it was going to be an epic whopping for Pakistan. Even Pakistan fans thought so. Lot of things went too perfectly for Pakistan on that day. Noball, big total, Indian top order collapse.

Most important of all internal clash between captain and coach.

[Global.Baba]

Pakistanis were the better team and they did get lot of things right. Toss,Pitch,Conditions,Luck are only as good as your team.

 

You can’t beat SA,SL,Eng and India back to back and Call it a fluke.

 

While I absolutely hate arrogant,ignorant and smug idiots across the border. Artificial suckups like Akram,Tarek Fateh and even Shoaib when he is on Indian media disgust me even more.

 

 

[rkt.india]

11 hours ago, Vilander said:

they deserved the CT win they batted and bowled like champs -> but they are not good enough to do it again and again. So they will fail 9 times out of 10. 

and that is what is called a fluke.

[Vilander]

3 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

and that is what is called a fluke.

no its called a reduced probability not an unlikely event, meaning the former occurs in normal sample size ( say a number of cricket matches played in a season between two team) the latter occurs in extended sample size like once in a 500 games or such which is outside of normal event limits. simpletons might confuse between the two because of linguistic lacunae or math challenges, Akram does not seem to have either, he was just being hard on pak team.

[Switchblade]

2 hours ago, Global.Baba said:

Pakistanis were the better team and they did get lot of things right. Toss,Pitch,Conditions,Luck are only as good as your team.

 

You can’t beat SA,SL,Eng and India back to back and Call it a fluke.

 

While I absolutely hate arrogant,ignorant and smug idiots across the border. Artificial suckups like Akram,Tarek Fateh and even Shoaib when he is on Indian media disgust me even more.

 

 

Fateh I don’t believe is fake from whatever I have seen of him or on twitter.

[Switchblade]

7 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

I never had more confidence than ever against Pakistan team than in the CT final. I thought it was going to be an epic whopping for Pakistan. Even Pakistan fans thought so. Lot of things went too perfectly for Pakistan on that day. Noball, big total, Indian top order collapse.

Their victory was very similar to our 2007 t20 triumph they were clearly the underdogs and had less expectations of winning our performance captaincy and planning was really poor and arrogance of our cricket experts didn’t help either and Kohli chasing instead of batting first.

[Asim]

and Semi-final vs unbeaten Eng?

[The Dark Horse]

I think he's rubbing it on the players to see if it will spur them..let's see 

Edited September 25, 2018 by The Dark Horse