ICC’s present representatives for the T20 World Cup in USA and Caribbean Islands are Yuvraj Singh (Yuvi) and Shahid Afridi, who both saw the thrilling India vs Pakistan match together last Sunday at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
Pakistan were in control of the game until the end of 13th over as they comfortably placed at 73 for 2 in 12.1 overs but Hardik Pandya’s wicket to Fakhar Zaman on the next ball triggered their downward slide.
Although it was 73 for 3 by then, Pakistan were still leading with a lot of runs to spare, needing only 47 runs to win from seven wickets and Muhammad Rizwan set. However, once Jasprit Bumrah bowled again in the fifteenth over and dispatched Rizwan for a knock of 31 runs, Pakistan started to lose their grip losing eight more wickets before ending up with a total of just six runs.
A video made by Afridi’s team showed him talking with Yuvraj saying he had congratulated prematurely when there was no need to.
“Lala why are you sad? What happened?” Yuvraj approaches Afridi in that video clip.
“My being sad is right or wrong? Was this a match we (Pakistan) should have lost?” the former Pakistan all-rounder asked his counterpart.
For example Afridi said “When we were left to score 40 runs yuvi told me ‘Lala congratulations! I am leaving; won’t watch till end’. I said ‘Yuvi chaalis runs boht hain iss pitch pe. Itni jaldi mubarakbad na de mujhe (40 runs are a lot on this pitch don’t congratulate me so early).”
After suffering an upset at the hands of USA in their opening match – which ended in a ‘Super Over’, Pakistan have now bee given a proverbial ‘do or die’ match at the hands of India, they must beat Canada in their next game to have any hopes of qualifying for the tournament’s ‘Super 8’ stage.
From each of these four groups, two teams will move on to ‘Super 8’.
“I told you Pakistan will win but I was still confident that we (India) can win it from there,” Yuvraj (Yuvi) said to Afridi at the end of the video. “Winning and losing is part of the game, what’s important is that our bonhomie should continue.”
Pakistan take on Canada in New York on Tuesday.
