Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has slammed the Indian team management for their ‘confusing’ selection calls for the Asia Cup Super 4 clash against Pakistan on Sunday. India ended up losing the match by five wickets despite posting a good total of 181 on the board.

Akhtar believes that India lost more because of their confusing and illogical selection calls. India were forced to make changes to their XI as Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out with a knee injury and Avesh Khan was also down with fever. As a result, they brought in Deepak Hooda to replace Jadeja but went ahead with Rishabh Pant in the XI even though Hardik Pandya returned.

Hardik was rested in the clash against Hong Kong and Rishabh Pant was brought in. Ideally, the Indian all-rounder should have come in at the expense of Pant again, but it was Dinesh Karthik who was benched this time. Karthik played in the group stage clash against Pakistan and Pant was benched. So, it was surprising to see him getting benched now that he had already been identified as a first team player.

“I had told the Indians and a lot of my friends not to be so happy (after the win last Sunday). Pakistan will make a very strong comeback and they will ruthlessly beat India. But India should not lose heart. They need to decided what is the final XI that they would pick. Who is your future? Rishabh Pant, or Dinesh Karthik? Is it Hooda, or Bishnoi? What is your final XI? Identify your Playing XI first. India’s team came across a very confused selection for me and I don’t know why,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.

Another thing that was quite surprising was that Deepak Hooda was not asked to bowl a single over when other bowlers were proving to be ineffective against the Pakistan batters. After all, he was brought into the XI due to his all-round skills.

Akhtar also went on to criticise India’s aggressive batting approach. Although India started off well with both Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul putting on an opening stand of 54 in 5.1 overs, the scoring rate fizzled down soon with the loss of wickets. India’s new aggressive approach of batting is liked by most pundits but Akhtar believes it isn’t the right approach as one batter needs to play anchor.

“I don’t understand what style of cricket India wants to play because whoever is coming, is just hitting. Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma who is not in form is also hitting. As is Rishabh Pant, Hardik is too. See, someone has to anchor the innings. KL Rahul has to play till the end like Rizwan,” added Akhtar.

India’s loss to Pakistan has now made their path to the final a little tough. They need to win against both Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, and need to maintain a good net run rate as well to qualify for the final.