‘Shaheen Shah Afridi is not Wasim Akram’

India steamrollered Pakistan by seven wickets in a lopsided blockbuster match at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday to maintain their unblemished 50-overs World Cup record against their arch-rivals.

Skipper Rohit Sharma's 86 and an inspired bowling display helped India hammer Pakistan in front of 132,000-capacity crowd.

India bowled out Pakistan for 191 after their rivals collapsed from 155-2.

"What a waste of opportunity on a great batting wicket. Disappointed. Very disappointed," said former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar on X, formerly Twitter.

India then overhauled the total with 117 balls to spare to extend their unbeaten streak against their neighbours to eight in the 50-over showpiece tournament.

While the target to defend was not big, the Pakistan team lost inside 31 overs, with their attack managing to take just three Indian wickets.

Their key bowler, Shaheen Shah Afridi, claimed two wickets, that of Shubman Gill and skipper Rohit, but ended up conceding 36 runs off his six overs. 

By the time he claimed Rohit's wicket, the damage was already done and India's victory had started to appear as a foregone conclusion.

While Rohit was batting in the 80s and had more or less assured the victory for India, over in the Hindi commentary box, former India cricketer and head coach Ravi Shastri, Jatin Sapru and Irfan Pathan were commentating on the action. That's when Shastri started to speak about Shaheen.

"He is a good bowler, he can claim a wicket with the new ball. But you have to admit it, if Naseem Shah is not playing and the quality of Pakistan's spin bowling is like this, then Shaheen is not Wasim Akram. He's a good bowler, but there is no need for us to hype him so highly as well. If a player is simply a good player, we should restrict our praise to saying he is a good player. He's not a great player, we need to admit that," Shastri said.

Since his international debut in 2018, Afridi has established himself as the spearhead of Pakistan's bowling attack across all three formats of the international game.

Pakistan great Wasim Akram, who picked 502 wickets in 356 ODIs and bowled Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup final against England, recently said: "He (Shaheen Shah Afridi) is one of the world's top three bowlers."