File image of Aakash Chopra
Former Indian cricketer and presently an analyst and a commentator, Aakash Chopra on Monday responded to the recent remarks made by ex-Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi. The former captain commented that Pakistan used to beat India so many times that Indians would ask for forgiveness after the match.
Talking to Cric Cast on Youtube, Afridi had said: “I have always enjoyed India. Unhe to theek-thaak mara hai humne. Itna mara hai unhe ki match ke baad maafiyan mangi hai unhone. (We’ve thrashed them a lot. I believe we’ve beaten them so much that they used to ask us for forgiveness after the match).”
However, Aakash put forth some stats to clarify that the balance between the two sides were almost equal, but changed significantly in favour of the Indians during Afridi's time with the Pakistan side.
Speaking in his latest YouTube video, Aakash said: “Pakistan team used to be good at one point. It is still an okay team today. But there was a time when India used to play against Pakistan at Sharjah and the balance was tilted towards the neighbouring nation. But it was not the ‘Afridi time’ that he is talking about.
“Pakistan’s strength was sheer talent - from Imran Khan to Wasim Akram to Waqar Younis. Because of it, they did really well. They used to beat India, there is no doubt about that. But later, when Afridi started playing and till the time he retired, things had changed,” Chopra added.
Bcaking his claims with numbers, Aakash pointed out that “If you look at the stats, we played 15 Tests, each of us have won 5 Tests each. In ODIs, you have won two more games than us. The stat is 41-39 in your favour in 82 games, so well done. But I doubt that anyone is going to ask for forgiveness for just losing two more games.
“But when you talk about T20I, the format in which you were really good, India lead the head-to-head contest by 7-1. Isn’t the story told backwards? Maybe, he (Afridi) wanted to say something else, and he said something else. I am really surprised,” he further added.
Since Afridi's debut year, India have won 45 matches across formats while losing 42 against Pakistan. And such has been the dominance of the Indians over Pakistan in cricket that they have won 15 of the 20 international matches they played since the start of the last decade. Moreover, India have never lost to Pakistan in a World Cup tie and hold a 13-3 head-to-head tie in ICC events.
“Some of the best minds in the world have said that there is a cure when a snake bites you, but there is no cure for misconceptions,” Chopra continued. “During Afridi’s time, the scenario was balanced, in fact it was starting to tilt in favour of India. And if we talk about the current scenario, there is quite a difference."
“If you look at World Cup records, you will find India have gone quite ahead. You always remember the 2017 Champions Trophy final, but even in that tournament India had beaten Pakistan once in the tournament. India’s dominance is of a different kind. When India travel to Australia, they beat Australia. When Pakistan travel to Australia, they lose by quite a fair margin. There is a lot of difference between the two teams at this time,” he further said.
