"I was happy for Pakistan": Sanjay Manjrekar rips Salman Agha & Co. apart with savage dig
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Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has slammed Pakistan for a lack of depth in their batting order and has pointed out the huge gap in excellence between India and Pakistan players, which led to India's comfortable victory despite a below-par performance in the first innings.
India humiliated Pakistan in the first group-stage game, which was the first time these two nations played each other in a tournament after the war-like situation arose between the nations.
The first game saw Suryakumar Yadav lead India to a comfortable win and then further humiliate the opposition with a snub of the customary ritual of handshake. The same trend that led to immense controversy continued in the second game as well. India won over Pakistan in the second game as well.
"It again shows the big gap between India and Pakistan on sheer ability and skills" - Sanjay Manjrekar shames Pakistan
After India defeated Pakistan, former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar claimed that this win over their rivals in the Super Four is an indication of the gap between the two Asian sides. India won the match by 6 wickets.
"This is the thing with India-Pakistan matches. India weren't at their best, clearly. Just imagine Bumrah being India's most expensive bowler. He had an off-day, so India's main bowler had a bad game. India dropped three catches, so India were well below their best. And despite that, they won comfortably against Pakistan," Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out Pakistan's exposed weakness through his Instagram handle.
India's win against Pakistan marked their 7th consecutive victory against the rivals across all formats of the game and a fourth straight win in T20Is.
"It again shows the big gap between India and Pakistan on sheer ability and skills. I was happy for Pakistan as they were slightly better, so there was some spark there. But you could see how the Indian bowlers still managed to pull things back. Why? Because there wasn't depth of class in Pakistan's batting," he continued.
Sanjay Manjrekar has exceptional praise for Team India in T20I cricket
After shaming the Pakistan side, Sanjay Manjrekar went on to land high praise for the Indian team in the shortest format of the game. The Men in Blue have dominated the format, winning 29 of their last 32 games, which also includes the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
"In the end, with Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill and the way the Tilak Varma finished things off, it's just a limitless supply of exceptional players. So India, even in that match where they were not at their best, still showed all of us as to how superior they are to Pakistan and what a formidable T20 team India has become," said Manjrekar (via the aforementioned source).
Can both India and Pakistan qualify for the Asia Cup final?
Both India and Pakistan still have a chance to face each other for the third time in the Asia Cup 2025. India has started the Super-4 matches with a win, and with their ominous form in the tournament, they are likely favourites to win the remaining two games and see it through to the finals.
Pakistan, on the other hand, despite having lost against India, can still see it through to the finals if they win the remaining two matches. Under such a scenario, the two teams will face each other in the final of a competition after a long time since the last time they did was in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy Final.
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India National Cricket Team Pakistan National Cricket Team India vs Pakistan Asia Cup Sanjay Manjrekar Salman Agha
