The most anticipated cricket clash between India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2022 is scheduled to take place on Sunday. After Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi was ruled out of the tournament due to injury, Waqar Younis made some controversial comments on Team India, which he has recently clarified.
India will face Pakistan on August 28 in their Asia Cup 2022 opener at the Dubai International Stadium. Both the teams will be playing without their star pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Shaheen Afridi due to their respective injuries.
Earlier, Pakistan legend Waqar Younis made a controversial remark over Afridi's absence from the tournament, targeting Team India. He tweeted, " Shaheen’s injury Big relief for the Indian top order batsmen. Sad we won’t be seeing him in #AsiaCup2022 Get fit soon Champ @iShaheenAfridi"
Shaheen’s injury Big relief for the Indian top order batsmen. Sad we won’t be seeing him in #AsiaCup2022 Get fit soon Champ @iShaheenAfridi pic.twitter.com/Fosph7yVHs
— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) August 20, 2022
However, former Pakistan coach Waqar Younis has now offered a clarification on his 'Big relief' remark while talking to sports journalist Vimal Kumar in an interaction hosted by OneCricket.
He said, "Shaheen ki absence ek big relief toh hai saare openers ke liye. Indians ka maine bas thoda masala... but ye bhi mohabbat nai, aisa nahi hai ke koi dushmani hai. (Shaheen's absence is a big relief to all openers but I tweeted about Indians just to spice it up. It's just banter and I don't have any hatred towards anyone)."
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka lost their Asia Cup 2022 opener to Afghanistan as the latter side chased the target with 8 wickets and 59 balls remaining. Afghanistan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi received the man of the match award for his exciting performance where he bowled a maiden over and dismissed three players in 3.4 overs.