Twitter battle heats up ahead of Indo-Pak Asia Cup contest

We are just a week away from the iconic contest of two of cricket’s biggest arch-rivals, India and Pakistan, and the words have already started flying high. Before the war unravels on the 22-yards, the build-up makes it even more special.

Pakistan was depleted of their primary fast bowler, Shaheen Afridi and that made Waqar Younis take to Twitter to express what would it signify for Team India. 

Shaheen’s injury Big relief for the Indian top order batsmen. Sad we won’t be seeing him in #AsiaCup2022 Get fit soon Champ @iShaheenAfridi pic.twitter.com/Fosph7yVHs

— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) August 20, 2022

He was obviously referring to the T20I World Cup opener where Sharma was bowled for a duck by Afridi.

However, when it comes to the Indo-Pak rivalry, none of the teams run short of gas, may it be on the greens or off them. If Waqar’s tweet sparked a few debatable responses, former Indian medium-pacer, Irfan Pathan had the perfect reposte for the erstwhile Pakistani ace. India will also be without two of their main T20I bowlers as Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel were ruled out even before the squad was announced.

It’s a relief of other teams that Bumrah and Harshal aren’t playing this Asia cup!

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) August 21, 2022

Before a rib injury ruled out Harshal Patel, he registered crucial figures of 4/25 against South Africa, 1 for 24, and 2 for 35 against England. More importantly, he had left a significant impact in the death overs where the batters have struggled to crack his code of the pace mix-up. Bumrah won’t need a separate introduction as the world stayed witness to the sheer carnage that he brewed against the English batters in the opening ODI of the recently concluded Indo-England bilateral series.