T20 World Cup: Irfan Pathan advises India bowlers on how to tackle Babar Azam, Rizwan in Pakistan match

Former India left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan has advised Team India pacers to bowl on stumps in order to tackle Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and opener Mohammed Rizwan during the upcoming T20 World Cup clash between the arch-rivals.

India will take on Pakistan on October 23 in their opening match of the Super-12 stage at the ICC event in Australia and they will be wary of the threat that Azam and Rizwan possess as the duo stitched an unbeaten partnership of 152 runs during the T20 World Cup 2021 to help the Men in Green thrash India by 10 wickets.

”Don’t give them any width whatsoever, especially Rizwan, because he’s the guy who takes the Powerplay on his shoulders. Just try to get the pace going. Babar takes his time. So, you need to be aware of those situations and those batters,” Irfan Pathan said while speaking on Star Sports show ‘Game Plan’.

Also Read: T20 World Cup: Gautam Gambhir tells India batters how to tackle Shaheen Afridi in Pakistan clash

”The line has to be on the stumps, with tight lines. And with both batters, the length changes slightly. When it comes to Rizwan, you can afford to bowl more fuller. You can try to hit him beneath the knee roll. This is where your line and length can be.

”And when it comes to Babar Aazam, you need to get him out LBW, but your aim should not be on his front leg, it should be behind his leg because he’s slightly open. This is where Arshdeep and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar come in with that in-swinging delivery,” Irfan added.

Pathan also said Indian batters need to play smartly at the iconic MCG, where they will open their T20 World Cup campaign.

”When you play at the MCG, the straight boundaries are not that big. It’s the side boundaries that are massive. Obviously, India need to be smart, especially the batting.

”Probably, it will be difficult to hit the side boundaries, so they have to play the gaps and probably convert the twos into threes and ones into twos, because running between the wickets will be very important,” he suggested.

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