Wasim Akram’s impressed with India’s early WC domination: ‘Like a runaway train’

This was touted as the toughest challenge for the Indian side till now in the tournament, despite their playing against Australia and arch-rivals Pakistan, beating both of them.

After the match ended with New Zealand, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram said India seemed to be like a “runaway train” in this tournament, adding they already put one foot in the semi-finals. “India is like that runaway train that has its brakes failed. They are going that way,” said Akram on A Sports. “They have the weapons, have the merit, the skills and most importantly they know how to execute their plans.”

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Despite a major blow in the previous match when India’s finest all-rounder Hardik Pandya was injured, and including Mohammed Shami and batter Suryakumar Yadav as cover — dropping all-rounder Shardul Thakur — India won the match against New Zealand by 4 wickets.

In the match, Mohammed Shami led a remarkable recovery in the last 10 overs and helped India take six wickets in the last 10 overs. Shami in the last 60 balls picked 4 wickets, thus completing his five-wicket haul in his first match of the tournament.

“They did one change according to the situation. Squads should be such, like India and New Zealand’s, that if anybody is injured or out of touch or you want to play someone according to opposition or pitch (then you have such resources available). Like India played Shami, Hardik was injured, they dropped Shardul (Thakur), and SKY (Suryakumar Yadav) was brought in as a new batter. Then Shami got a wicket off the first ball of his spell,” said Akram.

Though during the chase, India found themselves in a rather shaky situation, however, Virat Kohli brilliantly anchored them to a point as India chased the target down.

Meanwhile, chasing the target for India, Virat missed to match Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most tons in ODIs, as he ended up falling on 95.

“Kya zabardast chase ki hai (what a phenomenal chase). No pressure. Wickets fell, but they looked smooth, looked in control. That’s a great sign for the Indian team and Indian cricket,” Wasim said.

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Updated: 23 Oct 2023, 07:43 PM IST