R Ashwin Did Exactly What I Wanted, Says Shahid Afridi As He Recalls 2014 Asia Cup Contest

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi seems to have developed a knack of coming up with weird statements in order to tease Indian cricket fraternity. Just a few days, he raised a number of eyebrows by saying that Pakistan’s domination over their arch-rivals was such that Indian cricketers would seek forgiveness from Pakistan.

And he has now come up with a similar kind of comment. The former international has said that he tricked Ravichandran Ashwin into bowling a favourable length to him during the 2014 Asia Cup. Speaking to Pakistani cricket presenter Zainab Abbas, Shahid Afridi recalled the game which was a must-win for Team India.

Batting first, India ended their innings on a modest 245 for 8. With the ball, India did well and took the match into the final over. Needing 13 from last two overs, Pakistan managed to collect just 3 from the 49th over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar while losing two wickets.

Stand-in captain Virat Kohli then handed the ball to Ravichandran Ashwin. The India off-spinner started well by dismissing Saeed Ajmal on the very first delivery. However, Shahid Afridi hit two consecutive sixes to take his side home.

“Saeed Ajmal was batting with me. I told him to put bat on ball and get a single. I told him not to go for the sweep shot but he ended up playing one and lost his wicket. Ashwin was bowling well, he was getting some purchase from the track too,” Shahid Afridi told Zainab in the interview.

“Then Junaid Khan came in. I told him the same thing, just get a single. He somehow managed to get me back on strike,” he added.

The former cricketer then insisted that he ‘tricked’ Ashwin into bowling the sort of delivery he wanted which helped him hit a couple of maximums to seal the victory for Pakistan.

“What I did against Ashwin was to look towards the leg side. I wanted to trick him so that he thinks that I am going to hit on the leg side. The idea behind it was to force the off-spinner not to bowl his off-spin. And Ashwin did exactly that. He bowled the leg-spin. I hit it over the extra cover region for a six. The next delivery was a difficult one, I did not get it in the middle. I was in two minds, I was thinking will it go over the ropes or not. But in the end, the ball sailed over the fielder for a six. I breathed a sigh of relief,” he concluded.

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