Waqar Younis, Shahid Afridi, Gautam Gambhir
Waqar Younis. Credits: Getty Images

Taking a sly dig at India’s historic win over Australia in the 2018-19 Test series, former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis feels that the win could be largely attributed to the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner. India, who are the number one Test side in the world for more than three years, delivered a superb performance with the bat and ball to beat the hosts 2-1.

The series could have ended 3-1 in India’s favour but rain helped the hosts escape with a draw in the final Test. The visitors were on fire with both bat and ball as they outplayed the hosts to win their first-ever Test series win on the Australian soil. However, Waqar Younis undermined the win by saying that the absence of Smith and Warner was one of the biggest reasons behind the successful series.

The former Pakistan skipper did say that he does not want to take away any credit from India but his comments made it pretty clear that more than the performance from Virat Kohli & Co., he credited the absence of Smith and Warner for the world number one Test side’s win.

“I am not trying to take away any credit from India, they played well and they are a very good side. But yes at same time when they won in Australia, there is no doubt that Australian cricket was going through a turmoil and there were problems in their dressing room. And they were without Steve Smith and David Warner,” Waqar Younis said during a video conference.

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Tim Paine, Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli-led India beat Australia 2-1 in 2018-19 series(Credits: Twitter)

As far as Pakistan are concerned, they have not won a single Test on the Australian soil since 1995. Last year, they suffered a humiliating whitewash in the two-Test series. They lost both the Tests by an innings and had also lost the preceding T20I series. Speaking about Pakistan’s dismal record in Australia, Waqar Younis said he is not sure as to what has been the reason behind it.

“I really don’t know why we have not won Tests their all these years. At times, we went there with top bowling attacks yet lost. To me it was a case of when the bowling worked the batting didn’t put up enough runs or when the batters put up enough runs the bowlers didn’t come through,” Waqar Younis said.

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