"During our times, 257 was a winning score in one-day cricket" - Wasim Akram stunned by LSG's batting performance against PBKS
Former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram took a dig at Punjab Kings (PBKS) bowlers after they leaked 257 in 20 overs against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Mohali. He recalled that 257 was a winning total even in ODIs during his playing days.
LSG smashed the second-highest total in IPL history, racking up 257 in 20 overs after Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan sent them into bat.
Kyle Mayers and Marcus Stoinis completed quick-fire half-centuries, while Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran played brutal cameos. In reply, Punjab fell short by 56 runs.
Speaking to Sportskeeda, a shocked Akram said 257 was a winning total in ODIs during his playing days. The 56-year-old doubted whether the bowlers tried to do things differently. He elaborated:
"It was unbelievable to see that. During our times, 257 was a winning score in one-day cricket, But now 257 in 20 overs in unbelievable and I can only imagine that the bowlers would have endured a forgettable day. I understand bowlers go for plenty of runs in T20 cricket. If I'm a bowler today and being smashed left, right, and centre, I would do things differently. Maybe make the run-up angular or go round the wicket."
Rahul Chahar was the only Punjab Kings bowler to end up with decent figures of 4-0-29-0. Arshdeep Singh returned 4-0-54-1, while Kagiso Rabada finished with 4-0-52-2.
"This was an assault" - Wasim Akram
Akram further claimed that he doubted whether today's pacers were skilled enough to execute their plans and felt that 'assault' was the perfect word to describe this batting performance. He added:
"For instance, Dwayne Bravo used to go round the wicket and bowl yorkers to the right-handed batters. But you need to practice that and nobody knows whether they do it. The idea is to create doubt in the batter's mind. These guys don't. By going for so many runs, they probably go blank. Rabada and Arshdeep went for 106 runs in eight overs in that game. Were they bowling full tosses or telling the batters beforehand of where they were going to bowl? It's unbelievable. This was an assault."
Punjab Kings are currently battling the Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk.