In the wake of Najam Sethi’s criticism of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) for not moving the India-Pakistan Asia Cup Super-4 match from Colombo to Hambantota due to weather concerns, Harbhajan Singh has responded strongly to the former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The former Indian cricketer took a swipe at Sethi, who recently suggested that Team India is ‘afraid’ to play against Babar Azam’s team in Pakistan.
Despite Pakistan co-hosting the continental tournament, Team India is competing in their Asia Cup matches on Sri Lankan soil. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka’s unpredictable weather has disrupted several games in the ongoing edition of the continental tournament. In a fiery tweet that sparked a social media debate, Sethi questioned India’s reluctance to play the Green Army in Pakistan.
“BCCI/ACC informed Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) today that they had decided to shift the next India-Pak match from Colombo to Hambantota because of rain forecasts. Within one hour they changed their mind and announced Colombo as the venue. What’s going on? Is India afraid to play and lose to Pakistan? Look at the rain forecast,” Sethi said on X (formerly known as Twitter) last week.
Advertisement
“I have a message for Najam Sethi“: Harbhajan In a scathing response to the former PCB chairman through his YouTube channel, Harbhajan remarked that India has given a fitting reply to Sethi by defeating Babar and his team in the rain-affected Super 4 encounter in Colombo. “I have a message for Najam Sethi. He had said that Team India is afraid of playing against Pakistan, I hope he saw the kind of performance that Team India put up, a record win. I hope he must have got his answer, so keep your boys ready for the next game,” Harbhajan stated.
India’s Dominant Victory Over Pakistan India, the record-time winners, routed Pakistan by 228 runs to secure their most significant victory over Babar’s team in the 50-over format. Former Indian captain Virat Kohli and former vice-captain KL Rahul both scored match-winning centuries, helping India amass a massive total of 356-2 in 50 overs. Following Kohli and Rahul’s impressive partnership against the bowling of Shaheen Shah Afridi, spin maestro Kuldeep Yadav claimed a memorable five-wicket haul as Pakistan crumbled for 128 runs in 32 overs.
“From Pakistan’s perspective, they gained nothing from this match except exhaustion. Their bowling was inadequate, and the batting performance was equally poor. No Pakistani batsman demonstrated the ability to face high-quality seam and swing bowling and score runs,” Harbhajan added.