Asia Cup 2023: "Important For Pakistan To Dismiss Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma Early" - Salman Butt

Former Pakistan National Cricket Team captain Salman Butt has suggested the Babar Azam-led side to pick early wickets of modern-day batting greats Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to increase their chances of winning the matches against India National Cricket Team.

The Men In Blue and the Men In Green are set to take on each other on multiple occasions in the next few months. First, they will lock horns in Asia Cup 2023 in Sri Lanka and then they will face each other in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.

In a video shared on his official YouTube channel, Salman Butt said that Team India are overly dependent on the star batters Kohli and Rohit, and Pakistan need to make sure that they don’t let the batters play big innings. He further suggested Pakistan to avoid losing a couple of early wickets as it will push them to the backfoot.

“Team India are dependent on the form of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. They depend on them a lot.”

“It will be very important for Pakistan to dismiss Sharma and Kohli early. Both of them can stabilize their innings and can also play match-winning knocks. All Pakistan need to do is take two wickets early, and then ensure they don’t lose their two wickets early.”

He is very courageous – Salman Butt on Tilak Varma

Butt further spoke about the selection of the 20-year-old batter Tilak Varma in India’s Asia Cup squad. He said that Tilak’s inclusion in the squad is the classic case of the selection committee looking at the recent form of the player.

Claiming that Tilak has done it all at the perfect moment, Butt said that the young batter is very courageous and has scored runs in tough conditions.

“Tilak Varma is a classic case of current form. He looks very good and has all the shots,” Butt said. 

“He is very courageous and was able to score runs when everyone else was struggling. This is what you want, and I think he has done it at the right moment.”

“It has been a trend among all the teams that surprise inclusions have performed and delivered in big tournaments. Maybe he is one of those, but only time will tell,” he added.

Tilak Varma recently made his international debut in the T20I series against West Indies and so far has represented the side in just 7 matches. In his debut series, he finished as the leading run-getter for India with 173 runs in his bag.