“Aap Bahut Bade Chokers Hai”: Shoaib Akhtar Brutally Trolls South Africa After Defeat vs Netherlands

Temba Bavuma-led South Africa suffered a shock 13-run defeat at the hands of the Netherlands on Sunday at the T20 World Cup, and hence their campaign at the ongoing tournament came to an end. Pakistan had their semi-final hopes reliant on South Africa stumbling against the Dutch side and this is exactly what happened. After South Africa’s defeat, Pakistan outclassed Bangladesh to seal a semi-final spot along with India from Group 2.

Before the Pakistan-Bangladesh game, Shoaib Akhtar made a video, saying South Africa have lived up to the tag of being chokers.

“I have just woken up. Thank you, South Africa. Aap bahut bade chokers hai (you are very big chokers). You have given Pakistan a big chance, big thanks to you. I didn’t think that Pakistan deserved to go through to the semi-finals after losing to Zimbabwe, but Pakistan have been given a lifeline. We need to see India once all over again,” Akhtar said in the video.

“Thank you, South Africa. You’ve lived up to the ‘c’ word. Worked in our benefit. Pakistan, now stay tight. Go on & win this,” wrote Akhtar as the caption.

Thank you South Africa. You’ve lived upto the ‘c’ word. Worked in our benefit.
Pakistan, now stay tight. Go on & win this. pic.twitter.com/MCl1oz6ZHC

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) November 6, 2022

For the unversed, South Africa are known for crumbling under pressure at ICC events and this is one of the biggest reasons they are yet to win one ICC title.

After the game which Proteas lost by 13 runs, head coach Mark Boucher spoke about what went wrong for his side.

“When we woke up. I think if you look at the way that we started the game, our energies were low. Whether that’s because it’s a half-past-10 game, times have been quite difficult, I don’t know, I haven’t really put my finger on it. Haven’t had a chance to speak to the guys yet and find out where they sort of feel it went wrong,” Boucher said in the post-match press conference.

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“I think our plans were there, but we didn’t quite use them well enough. I thought if you look at the game as a whole, I think Netherlands out-bowled us. They bowled with good plans, bowled to the longer side of the field, and they were just able to create more pressure on us than we were able to put pressure on them,” he added.

South Africa were unable to chase down 159 against the Netherlands, falling 13 runs short. Bowling wise, South Africa’s plans went sideways as Colin Ackermann took special liking to Kagiso Rabada at the death.