What was Pakistan coach Mike Hesson even thinking, when he called Mohammad Nawaz, ‘best spinner in the world’? Recently, his statement had irked many, if the 30th ranked bowler in the world was really that good.
The India vs Pakistan clash was his litmus test, and needless to say, the 31-year-old failed miserably.
Poor bowling by Mohammad Nawaz against India
As Pakistan failed to defend 127, Nawaz ended the match with poor figures of 0/27 in three overs, with an economy of 9. His first over fetched 13 runs where Tilak Varma hit him for two fours, and then in his last, he was hit for 10 again. And that is how he ended up embarrassing his coach, who is now guilty of making tall claims.
For the unversed, Hesson had said, ‘We’ve got Mohammad Nawaz, who’s the best spin bowler in the world at the moment, and he’s been ranked that way over the last six months since he’s come back on the side.’ Even former India skipper Sourav Ganguly had a classic reply to this: ‘Okay. Then let that spinner prove this time that the coach has not lost his mind.’
PAK no match to IND
If that is not enough, he even dropped a straightforward caught-and-bowled chance against Tilak. As far as the match is concerned, India crossed the finish line with seven wickets in hand and over four overs to spare. That clinical win meant, India is in the next round already. Earlier in the day, Indian spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav were at their very best, and claimed five wickets together.
Pakistan were poor with the bat, with tail-ended Shaheen Shah Afridi doing bulk of the scoring for them. With four sixes he went on to score 33 from 16 deliveries, that took their total over 100. India was merciless in their approach in both the innings, showing they were the better team, and by a huge margin.