Waqar Younis lashes out at Indian head coach Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma for ignoring Rishabh Pant

India and Pakistan will face each other in their first match of the super-4 round of the Asia Cup 2022. It is the second time when these two Asian giants are locking horns with each other in the ongoing edition of the Asia Cup. In the last match, India defeated the men in green by five wickets to clear off their account of the last defeat in the T20 World Cup 2022 against Babar & co.

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Indian top-order of batting is worked on their traditional approach against Pakistan in the first match in the group stage. Eventually, Rohit Sharma & co earned a victory in the nail-biting thriller by five wickets against Pakistan, thanks to the all-round brilliance of Hardik Pandya.

Recently, former legendary Pakistani pacer Waqar Younis has come up with a big statement on the Indian line-up. He went on to criticize the head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma for their choices in the playing XI.

Notably, Pant was not a part of the Indian playing XI during the last clash against Pakistan. Senior wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik was called in for the role place of Rishabh Pant. Younis has backed Pant to be a part of the top order of India.

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Even viewers love the way Rishabh Pant plays - Waqar Younis

“This is a luxury. Aapke bench pe jo ladka baitha hua hai... hum sab baatein karenge ke woh khel kyu nai raha? That's a big plus for India. Jis tareeke se Pant khelta hai, it's amazing to watch from the commentary box. Even viewers love the way he plays. I feel he should be a part of the top 4. During field restrictions, I don't see a more dangerous batter than him,” said Younis during a conversation with sports journalist Vimal Kumar at OneCricket.

Earlier, the Indian head coach Rahul Dravid talked about it during the pre-match press conference. He expressed his opinion on picking up choices between Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik.

"There's no first-choice wicketkeeper in the side... We play according to the conditions, situation, opposition and what we feel is the best XI. "There's no such a thing as first choice playing XI for every single condition. That will vary. On that day against Pakistan, we felt Dinesh was the right choice for us," said Dravid during an interaction with the journalists.

"It's very difficult to leave out anyone, but we are focused on picking the best XI. We have a little bit of squad culture in our side who believe that we have a very good squad of XV and anyone can play," he added later.