'Rizwan faces backlash for likening Jadeja and Axar to Pakistan's Salman Agha and Khushdil'

Aakash Chopra criticized Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan for drawing comparisons between Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja with Salman Ali Agha and Khushdil Shah. The comments came after Pakistan's defeat to India in the ICC Men's Champions Trophy Group A match at the Dubai International Stadium, prompting tough questions from the Pakistani media.

Virat Kohli hit his 51st ODI ton and 82nd international century to help India chase down 242 with ease. Pakistan are now being questioned for having just one frontline spinner (Abrar Ahmed) on the squad while the other teams have multiple options in their squad.

When Rizwan was asked about this, he compared Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja with his part-time spinners. Former India batter Aakash Chopra has poked fun at the Pakistan captain, saying "delulu is the only sululu'.

"Pakistan skipper Rizwan believes that Salman Agha and Khushdil Shah are of the same quality (as bowlers) as Jadeja and Axar. You can’t make these things up. Delulu Is The Only Sululu," he wrote on X.

"Please stay like this, Pakistan. Even though matches are one-sided…Pakistan’s meme game and cricket content is top-class after the loss," he added.

What did Rizwan actually say?

After the fixture against India ended, a reporter asked Rizwan whether having just one specialist spinner in the squad was a mistake.

To this question, Rizwan replied, "No, you can't say anything like that – that we made a mistake by picking just one spinner. If you look at that Indian team, also they have Kuldeep as the front-line spinner. Jadeja is like an all-rounder, Axar Patel is like an all-rounder. We also have Salman Ali Agha - he bowled very well in other countries as well and Khushdil Shah, they bowled very well like in the past."

"We need wickets in that particular time in ODIs especially. If we didn't take wickets in the middle overs - you can't win the matches. But this is a question, I will give you an answer to that. Like we all have three who always performed well, Shaheen, Naseem, and Haris, they performed very well. But today was not a day you can't say like that," he added.

Against India, Pakistan posted 241 runs after opting to bat first. However, Pakistan's bowlers were not able to strike consistently, and this led to India winning the match with six wickets in hand and 45 balls to spare.

Pakistan are now all but out of the tournament and a Bangladesh defeat against New Zealand will confirm their elimination.

ICC Champions Trophy , ICC Champions Trophy Schedule , and Champions Trophy 2025 Points Table – stay ahead with real-time match updates, team standings, and insights. Check live cricket score , player stats, and ICC rankings of top players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli . Get expert analysis, match previews, and in-depth coverage of ICC CT 2025, IPL 2025 Schedule and IPL 2025, all on HT Crickit, powered by Hindustan Times – your trusted source for cricket news along with Bangladesh vs New Zealand Live Score. .freemium-card h4{color:#fff; padding-bottom:20px;} .freemium-card .freemium-content .subcTxt{padding-bottom:16px; color:#fff;} .freemium-card .freemium-content{width: auto; max-width: inherit;} .freemium-card .freemium-content .subcTxt{max-width:inherit; font-size:18px; padding-top:0; line-height:24px} .freemium-card .btnSubc{margin} .freemium-card .btnSubc a{background:#000; color:#fff; min-width:auto; padding:5px 15px; border-radius:6px; font-size:16px; line-height:22px; font-weight:700;} .freemium-card{height:285px} @media (max-width: 767px) { .freemium-card h4{font-size:28px} .freemium-card .freemium-content{max-width:360px; padding: 20px;} .freemium-card{height:303px; background-position: 100% 0; } }