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Asia Cup 2022: Salman Butt slams Pakistan's poor display against Sri Lanka


image-l7vzap8fThe Sri Lankan spinner were all over Pakistan in the last fixture (PC: Twitter)

Pakistan were subjected to a big defeat in their Super Fours clash against Sri Lanka in what could be metaphorically counted as first part of tomorrow's Asia Cup final between the same teams. 

Wanindu Hasaranga led Sri Lanka's charge with the ball, returning with figures of 3-21. Pakistan had a batting collapse- from being 49-1 at the end of the powerplay, they were dismissed for a paltry 121. They lost nine wickets for just 58 runs. 

Pak's batting efforts did not impress former skipper Salman Butt, who did not mince his words while criticising the batting debacle. 

“The way Pakistan’s batters got out was quite disappointing. All their lives they have played tape ball cricket. How can they not read Hasaranga’s variations from the finger?" said Butt on his YouTube channel.

"Straight finger means the ball will spin away and behind the hand means the delivery will come in. Iftikhar Ahmed could not read a googly in an earlier match. In this game as well, he couldn’t pick the variation," he added. 


Butt blamed poor shot selection for their downfall

The Sri Lankan bowling attack bowled with exceptional discipline to tie down the Pak batters. However Salman Butt felt the Pak batters had only themselves to blame. 

Butt said that the kind of shots the Pakistani batters played it did not feel like they were having a bad day, rather it was just a poor array of shot selection one after the other as they failed to pick up the variations from the Sri Lankan bowlers.

Salman hopes that Pakistan can leave their poor performance behind and come into the finals with a different mindset.

“I am sure Pakistan will be a different team in the final. They will come in with a different attitude. Having said that, there are serious batting concerns. Pakistan have won games by showing brilliance in patches. There has been no wholesome performance."


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