‘Apne players ko sar pe charha liya’ – Shahid Afridi makes a huge statement on comparison between India and Pakistan players
The mother of all battles is set to get underway today as India and Pakistan will draw swords against each other in the all-important 20-20 World Cup clash in Melbourne. But, before the start of the clash, the verbal battles have already begun.
Before this clash, a lot of discussions were happening around the game. Former cricketers, Shahid Afridi and Atul Wassan got into a heated argument when it came to comparisons between the Indian and Pakistan players. Afridi strongly opposed Wassan’s comments when it came to talking about the difference between Indian and Pakistani players.
Wassan said that the Indian players have made a mark for themselves by winning matches on a consistent and continuous basis. He stated that players like KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya have got the status of being match winners but in contrast, Pakistan players have not been able to achieve such a mark on the cricket field.
Afridi hit back at Wassan for his remark and said,
“Mujhe ek deja vu wali feeling ho rahi thi. Kuch mahine phele bhi discuss kar rahe the ki Indian team main bare bare naam hai – Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul. Aur yeh bare naam isliye hai kyunki kuch saalo se innhone consistent performances diye hai. Isliye world main bhi rating hai. Compared to Pakistan cricketers, unhone bhi kiya hai, par India team ke against dekha jae toh utne bare, utne globally nehi hai.” (I’m having a Déjà vu. A few months back we were discussing that there are big names in the Indian team like Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. These are big names because they’ve consistently performed over the years. That’s why they have a rating in the world. Pakistan cricketers have also done well but they are not as big and global as the Indian players).
“Rizwan ne ek match jitaya, Nawaz ne bhi ek match jitaya, but ek match jitwane se koi bare player nehi ban jaate. Hardik ko bhi highly rate karte he kyunki woh lagatar bowling se bhi jitwaya hai, batting se bhi. Rizwan bara naam nehi lag rahe the kyunki unhone India ke khilaf matche nehi jitwaye the. Par abhi woh 3-4 bar perform kiya hai, toh unko bhi rating milna chaiye,” he added. (Rizwan won a game for us, Nawaz did that too, but winning a match does not make them a big player. Hardik has also been rated highly because he has consistently won games for India by bowling, even by batting. Rizwan wasn’t a big name because he hadn’t won games for the team against India. But now that he has performed multiple times, he should get ratings as well).
Afridi was not done yet as he wanted to deliver one final blow at Wassan where he said, “Abhi jo baat kar rahe they woh samaj nehi ayi. Apne players ko sar pe charha liya. Pakistan players, jo Ranking main No.1, 2 he unko bilkul ignore kardiya.” (I didn’t quite understand what he was talking about right now. They have created a big hype about their players, and have ignored the Pakistani players who are ranked at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions).
