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Cricket PlayersEx-Pak star's brutal jibe at country's economy ahead of India Champions Trophy clash: 'Ab toh TV bhi nahi tootenge...'
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has taken a brutal jibe at the country's economy ahead of the blockbuster match against India in the Champions Trophy.
Pakistan have everything to win and lose in their upcoming match against arch-rival India in the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 on Sunday at the Dubai International Stadium. After losing the tournament opener against New Zealand, Pakistan are staring down the barrel, and the hosts of the eight-team tournament must win against India to keep their fate in their own hands.
Ahead of the marquee clash against India, former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali made scathing remarks about the state of the team and the country's economy.
After the loss against New Zealand, Pakistan have been severely criticised for their lack of intent with the bat in hand. Star batter Babar Azam continues to face flak for scoring 64 off 90 balls when New Zealand set a target of more than 320 runs.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Basit Ali said, "Agar one-sided hota hai, toh ab TV bhi nahi tootenge kyunki Pakistan mei mehangai bahut zyada hai. Ab zabaan se hi har cheez hogi (If Pakistan will lose one-sided against India, now the fans will not break their TV sets because of the rising inflation in the country. Now people will just talk about it).
Basit Ali also believes India are the firm favourites for the contest against Pakistan. He reckons that if Mohammad Rizwan and co are able to get the better of Rohit Sharma's side, then it would be a big upset.
“India are favourites. There is no doubt about that. In my opinion, if Pakistan manage to beat India, it will be an upset because our cricket has gone down and is at all time low,” he said.
'Car is running in third gear'
Basit Ali also didn't mince his words while criticising the squad picked by Pakistan for Champions Trophy. The hosts are without Fakhar Zaman who got injured in the game against New Zealand.
Imam-ul-Haq has been named as his replacement and it needs to be seen whether he is brought into the XI immediately or whether Usman Khan gets a look in.
“Who will bat at No 3, nobody knows. They might ask Usman Khan to open with Imam and bring Babar Azam at No 3,” he said.
“Fakhar Zaman is out. Now Pakistan’s batting line-up from number one to five similar. If there car is running in the third gear, then it will stay in the third gear. It won’t be able to switch into turbo mode in the last five or 10 overs. Pakistan should now play cricket with bat and brain, not with the mouth,” he added.
Basit also took a potshot at the money the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spent on stadium renovations, arguing that the focus should have been on building a better squad with depth.
“The amount of money they spent in building the stadiums, they could have built a good team in half of that amount. But to build a team, you need intelligence. What is your vision? What’s your thinking? How do you view a player’s talent? These are the important things," said Basit Ali.
