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Cricket Players'Shaheen Afridi blew them away in Dubai. Amir did in Oval': ENG legend points out IND's achilles heel despite series win
Albeit impressed with their win, former England captain pointed out India's achilles heel which could trouble them soon.
Team India scripted a memorable series win against England, beating Jos Buttler's side 2-1 and registering their first ever ODI contest win in the country since 2014. India beat England by 10 wickets at the Kennington Oval earlier last week before conceding the second match at the Lord's where they were defeated by 100 runs. However, Rohit Sharma-led side bounced back in supreme fashion on Sunday to end their Manchester jinx with a five-wicket win. Albeit impressed with their win, former England captain Nasser Hussain pointed out India's achilles heel which could trouble them soon.
_(1)_1658139636485_1658139651774_1658139651774.jpg "Shaheen Afridi; Mohammad Amir")
Despite India players taking both the individual awards at the end of the Manchester tie - Rishabh Pant as Player of the Match and Hardik Pandya the Player of the Series - it was Reece Topley who had inflicted maximum damage on the Indian line-up, having finished with as many as nine wickets in three innings, the most by a bowler in the series. It came at an average of just 9 and economy rate of 3.70.
Five of those nine wickets came with the new ball at just 10.8 and economy rate of 3.86 and all those five wickets were India's top-three in the line-up. He dismissed India captain Rohit and his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan twice and dismissed Virat Kohli once.
Pointing out Topley's dominance against the Indian top-order, Nasser, in conversation with Sony Sports, pointed out that the Men in Blue have been susceptible to left-arm pacers. He recalled Shaheen Afridi's act from the 2021 T20 World Cup tie and Mohammad Amir's threatening opening spell in the Champions Trophy 2017 final.
“They need to play to left arm [pace bowling] a little bit better. History tells you that Shaheen Shah Afridi blew them away one evening in Dubai, Mohammad Amir blew them away one afternoon at the Oval in a final, and Reece Topley has blown them away here [at Old Trafford].
“They need to be a bit more tensed to their batting so some of their seamers will come down in a T20, in the last two overs with 20 to win. One of those seamers will need them to get across the line,” Hussain explained.
