Former Pakistan captain, Sarfaraz Ahmed, lashed out at renowned female cricket journalist, Aalia Rasheed, after her analysis of Pakistan’s five-wicket loss to India in the 2022 Asia Cup.
Aalia was not too pleased with Pakistan’s performance as they lost agonizingly to arch-rivals in their opening encounter in the competition. During a cricket show on Geo News, Aalia stated that Pakistan’s poor batting performance and fielding was the reason behind their loss.
The senior journalist stated that had Fakhar grabbed the catch of Kohli in the first over of the innings, Pakistan would have won the match. She said that Pakistan’s weakness against short bowling was well exploited by India and the batters capitulated under pressure.
Sarfaraz was not happy with the comments made by Aalia as he stated that the Men in Green fought valiantly and only lost the match due to their slow over rate which resulted in one extra fielder inside the circle after the 17th over. Sarfaraz stated that the team’s fighting spirit was sensational and advised the players to keep their heads up despite the loss.
The wicket-keeper batter took to Twitter to voice his displeasure on the comments.
Pak had the disadvantage after 17th over 5 fielders were inside the circle cuz of slow over rate & 1 of the so called female journalist on national Tv bashing Pakistan team after a fighting match & saying na run karte hai na catch pakarte hai kamal hai bhi🤷♂️ #headsUpBoys 🇵🇰
— Sarfaraz Ahmed (@SarfarazA_54) August 28, 2022
The 35-year-old captained the Pakistani side to a historic victory against India in the 2017 Champions Trophy final. The Men in Green defeated India by 180 runs as they lifted their maiden Champions Trophy final.
After the historic victory, Pakistan went on to defeat India for the first time in World Cup history as they recorded a 10-wicket win in the 2021 T20 World Cup encounter.
I think we are too stuck in the past performances. One win and we make them superstars. No consistency
A piece of advise to the reporter … this was just a battle, to win the war is what matters. Imagine last time we beat India thoroughly but did we get the cup ? This is a world Cup and not a battle between India and Pakistan.