Shadab Khan responds after Ajit Agarkar claims Virat Kohli will be able to handle Pakistan attack in Asia Cup

Shadab Khan on Saturday responded to India chief selector Ajit Agarkar’s alleged comment on Virat Kohli handling the Pakistan pace attack during the Asia Cup, saying words don’t count for much and what matters would be how the players perform on match day.

“Virat Kohli will handle them,” is what former India all-rounder Agarkar had said during a press conference announcing India’s squad for the Asia Cup. The comment allegedly was in response to a question on how the Indian batters, especially the top-order, would handle the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah in the continental tournament that begins on Wednesday.

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Speaking to reporters after Pakistan’s 59-run win against Afghanistan in Colombo on Saturday, Shadab played down Agarkar’s comment.

“Looks it depends on the day. Whether I or someone else or someone on his behalf makes such a comment, words don’t count for much and nothing really changes. Whatever happens on the day of the match is what will ultimately matter,” Shadab, who was adjudged the Player of the Match for his 3/42 in the third ODI against Afghanistan, told reporters.

Shadab had been in sparkling form both with bat and ball during the ODI series against Afghanistan in Sri Lanka, which Pakistan ended up sweeping 3-0 with their win on Saturday.

Read | Clean sweep against AFG will give us confidence, says Babar ahead of Asia Cup

Not only did Shadab’s three wickets break the backbone of the Afghan batting order, his 35-ball 48 in the high-scoring second one-dayer also helped the Babar Azam-led side recover from a mini-collapse and took the chase to the very last over.

Though Shadab was controversially run-out by Afghan seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi in the final over, pacer Naseem Shah managed to hold his nerve to guide his team to a thrilling one-wicket victory with two boundaries.

Pakistan face Nepal in the opening game of the 2023 Asia Cup in Multan on Wednesday and will be up against their arch-rivals India on Saturday, 2 September in Kandy.