T20 World Cup: "They weren't even trying" - Aakash Chopra surprised by West Indies' slow batting against Pakistan
Aakash Chopra has criticized the West Indies' timid batting approach in their T20 World Cup warm-up encounter against Pakistan.
The West Indies managed just 130/7 in their allotted 20 overs against Pakistan. The Babar Azam-led side chased down the 131-run target easily with seven wickets in hand and 27 deliveries to spare.
While reviewing the West Indies-Pakistan encounter in a video shared on his YouTube channel, questioned the Kieron Pollard-led side's batting approach. He said:
"What were the West Indies players doing? What were they waiting for? I mean when will you hit, will you hit or not? The most surprising part was that they weren't even trying."
The former India cricketer added that the West Indies' excruciatingly slow batting was unbecoming of the defending champions. Chopra elaborated:
"Did nobody tell them that it was a T20 encounter and not a Test match or an ODI where it will work by going extremely slowly. Here, in the race between a hare and a tortoise, it's not the tortoise but the hare who wins. It didn't look like they were anything like the defending champions."
Chris Gayle - 20 off 30 balls in a T20 game! Surely, times up for the big man. Sad to see him struggle with bat in hand, these past few months. #T20WorldCup
#WestIndies #Pakistan
The West Indies scored just 68 runs in the first 15 overs of their innings and also lost four wickets in the bargain. None of their top four batters - Lendl Simmons, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle and Roston Chase - scored at even run-a-ball.
Aakash Chopra on Hetmyer and Pooran also not firing for the West Indies
While lauding Pakistan's disciplined bowling effort, Aakash Chopra was slightly disappointed with Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran's batting efforts. He pointed out:
"Of course, Pakistan was bowling well, Imad Wasim with the new ball and all of that, and Shaheen and Hasan but try at least, throw the bat at least. Hetmyer made 28 runs with three boundaries, Pooran again run-a-ball 13, not really looking that great."
The 44-year-old concluded by stating that Kieron Pollard was the only West Indies batter to show his big-hitting prowess. Chopra observed:
"Pollard comes later and hits five fours in an over from Haris Rauf and tells you that you can bat like that. When you can bat like that, why were the batters up the order not hitting? When will they hit? What is this team? When they start hitting, everyone can hit and if they don't, no one feels like hitting."
Pakistani bowlers have restricted West Indies below 140 in their first warm-up game!
The spinners conceded only 3.25 runs per over in their 8 overs.
Kieron Pollard's five boundaries against Haris Rauf in the last over took his team's total to 130.
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Pooran's six off Shaheen Shah Afridi's bowling was the only maximum of the West Indian innings. The explosive batting lineup also hit just 14 fours during their batting effort.