India vs Pakistan, ODI World Cup 2023: Is Hafeez merely trying to stay in the limelight by making such vague comments?
Ahmedabad: Former Pakistan cricketer Mohammed Hafeez recently criticised the pitches that are being used for the World Cup 2023. He specifically spoke about the Chennai strip and asked if the tournament was held by the BCCI or the ICC. While his statement stirred a controversy and went viral, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has now schooled Hafeez. The Indian former cricketer explained Hafeez why the same pitch at a particular venue can behave differently.
“Brother, the square at Chennai (and at many other stadia in India) have pitches made with different soil now. Red-Black and mixed. As you’d know…pitches made with different soil component will play differently. Therefore, don’t be surprised if the pitches behave radically different at the same venue throughout the World Cup,” he wrote on X responding to Hafeez.
“At first, tomorrow the decision will be made whether the tournament is being organized by the ICC or the BCCI. Till now, there are three venues where two matches have been played – Hyderabad, Delhi, and Dharamsala. The pitch conditions were similar and it behaved similarly in both games. If the pitch is the same in Chennai, which was used for India vs Australia, then it’s understandable. But if there are slight changes, you can understand who is organizing the tournament,” said Hafeez on PTV Sports.
“There should not be any influence, it’s an ICC tournament. It has to run as per its curators and instructions. If tomorrow’s pitch’s relevance is similar and the momentum is the same, it’s understandable. But if there’s a slight change like if it’s a batting track or different conditions, this is a big question mark and that’s my statement,” Hafeez added.
Meanwhile, India captain Rohit Sharma has hinted that Shubman Gill may feature in the Pakistan game on Saturday.
“Shubman Gill is 99 per cent fit and we will see tomorrow,” said Rohit Sharma in a pre-match press conference on Friday. Meanwhile, Gill looked in fine touch during an extended session on Friday. The manner in which Gill faced the bowlers at the nets, it hardly looked like he was hospitalised last Sunday for dengue, with the blood platelet level dipping to 70,000.
Against Ravichandran Ashwin, Gill looked absolutely regal as he played some crisp on-drives off the off-spinner. Not for once did Ashwin trouble him as he also lofted him for what would be a certain boundary in a match situation.
Against Mohammed Shami, however, Gill was more watchful as he defended him mostly while unleashing a few savage cuts against a left-arm pacer summoned for the net session. After around 20 odd minutes at the bowlers’ nets, Gill entered the throwdown nets to face some heavy-duty fast deliveries from Nuwan, Raghu and Vikram Rathour.