Pakistan's Major General Asif Ghafoor lauds Usman Khawaja for his exceptional batting against India

India lost the five-match ODI series against Australia after being 0-2 down. The visitors staged a stunning fightback on the back of some brilliant batsmanship and intelligent bowling. Usman Khawaja led the revival with the bat for them as he ended up with two centuries and the same number of fifty-plus scores. Deservedly, he also won the Man of the Series award and was specially praised by Pakistan’s Major General Asif Ghafoor, the director-general of Inter-Services Public Relations.

This praise across for an Australian comes on the backdrop of the recent tensed relations between India and Pakistan. In the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, India had carried out air-strikes on the terror camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot in Pakistan. The tensions had increased to the higher levels on the border between the two countries then as Pakistan also attacked the very next day to shot down an Indian aircraft.

Moreover, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also criticised the Indian team’s decision to wear the camouflage caps in the third ODI in Ranchi. They also asked the ICC to take action against the BCCI over the same.

Ghafoor’s tweet for Khawaja

Since then, Australia won all the three matches and Usman Khawaja was the main man for them opening the innings. The series turned on its head and the visitors completed one of the remarkable turn arounds in the ODIs to win the series in India after a long time.

Interestingly, Asif Ghafoor since the third ODI was of all praise for Pakistan-born Khawaja for his batting and came up with three tweets for as many matches. Also, in the latest of his tweets, he highlighted the words ‘STRIKE’ and ‘CAP’ to troll the Indian team. This might not go down well with the Indian fans and a war of words on social media can start now.

Meanwhile, Australia next play against Pakistan in the UAE in the five-match ODI series later this month and it will be interesting to see what will be Ghafoor’s reaction if Khawaja continues his great form against his team as well.

Here are the tweets:

Well played #UsmanKhuaja pic.twitter.com/SAsl5H2vSV

— Asif Ghafoor (@peaceforchange) March 8, 2019

Well played again #UsmanKhawaja https://t.co/jgAjzRXhqv

— Asif Ghafoor (@peaceforchange) March 10, 2019

Very well played yet again #UsmanKhawaja
Your 100 at excellent STRIKE rate made the difference. You gave excellent performance during last three consecutive ODI contests to CAP the series. pic.twitter.com/r4f6V5ROn9

— Asif Ghafoor (@peaceforchange) March 13, 2019

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