'None of the batsmen are scary apart from Babar' - Sunil Gavaskar gives a damning take on Pakistan's batting lineup

09-13-2023
3 min read

On Monday, India completed a massive 228-run win over arch-rivals Pakistan on the reserve day after play was interrupted by rain on Sunday. 

After centuries from KL Rahul (111*) and Virat Kohli (122*) powered India to 356/2 in the first innings, the Pakistan lineup eventually folded for 128, with bowlers Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah not coming out to bat due to injury.

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Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya did the damage early on with the ball, before Kuldeep Yadav picked up 5 wickets to break the back of the chase. Pakistan head coach Grant Bradbury called the defeat a 'gift' as it served as a wake-up call for the team ahead of the World Cup in October.

Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar, however, was not so upbeat about the result.

'None of the batsmen are scary apart from Babar' - Sunil Gavaskar

On a news channel, Gavaskar said,

You know people, particularly in Pakistan, keep on talking about India having only one or two players. I mean how many players does Pakistan have? Particularly in the batting department. Apart from Babar who do they have?

When the opposition bowlers sit down & dissects Pakistan's batting, they would spend a lot of time on how to get Babar out. But I don't think they would spend half the time on the others. None of them are such that they would scare the opposition bowlers. 

While Babar Azam is undoubtedly the star of the Pakistan lineup, other batters like Iftikhar Ahmed and Imam-ul-Haq have made solid contributions in the Asia Cup so far.

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Interestingly, these comments come just a few days after Gavaskar slammed ex-cricketers from overseas constantly sharing their thoughts on the Indian team's tactics and team composition.