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Former legendary Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has come up with a big statement about Team India ahead of their clash against Sri Lanka in the upcoming Asia Cup 2023. He also spoke about India’s defeat in the last super-4 clash against Bangladesh; the men in blue lost the dead rubber by a close margin of 6 runs.
Shoaib Akhtar called the defeat against Bangladesh a ‘wake-up call’. Notably, the team played without the star players, including the likes of Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj. These changes and replacements were done by Indian team management to give some game time to the benched players, including Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and Prasidh Krishna.
"It was a great wakeup call for them to come back." - Shoaib Akhtar on India's defeat in super-4 before the final
Talking about the Asia Cup 2023 final, Akthar reckoned that it is going to be a very tough task for both the teams, especially India as they are coming off with a defeat against Bangladesh in the super-4 round.
“We were not expecting that India would lose to a team like Bangladesh but they did. It was an embarrassing defeat. Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka. They are out of the Asia Cup, which is an even bigger embarrassment. India are still in the final. All is not lost for them. It was a great wakeup call for them to come back harder and make sure they secure victory in the finals but that will only happen if they play really well. Ye khala ji ka ghar nahi hai jaha pe India jake araam se jeet legal. Nothing of that sort is going to happen. It's going to be a tough game,” said Akhtar in a video on his YouTube channel.
"Sri Lanka is out there to beat India. And going into the World Cup, it could be anybody's game. India need to wake up. They lost to Bangladesh," he added later.
Following the conclusion of the Asia Cup 2023, Rohit Sharma’s India will face Australia in the upcoming three-match home ODI series just ahead of the commencement of the ODI World Cup 2023.