Published 13:40 IST, July 23rd 2020
Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan's banter on Ben Stokes gets Twitter abuzz as fans join debate
Yuvraj Singh did not shy away from responding to his former teammate's tweet by asking if Team India doesn’t have an all-rounder who can win matches for them.
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Former Team India cricketers Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj Singh were involved in a comical Twitter banter on Monday after Irfan Pathan posted a tweet in which he acknowledged England all-rounder Ben Stokes for his all-round performance during the England vs West Indies second Test at Old Trafford. Ben Stokes' heroics in the 2nd Test helped England beat West Indies by 113 runs and level the three-match Test series.
Indian cricket will be unbeatable anywhere in the world if they have a match winning all rounder like @benstokes38 #matchwinner
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) July 21, 2020
Irfan Pathan-Yuvraj Singh Twitter banter
Irfan Pathan, in his tweet, wrote that Team India will be difficult to beat if they have a player like Ben Stokes in the side. Yuvraj Singh did not shy away from responding by asking his former teammate if Team India doesn’t have an all-rounder who can win matches for the side. Irfan Pathan gave a cheeky reply to Yuvraj Singh's response by saying that the Punjab cricketer has officially retired. Yuvraj Singh ended the banter saying that he knew that was coming and also praised Irfan Pathan Here's the Irfan Pathan-Yuvraj Singh Twitter banter -
Are you saying we don’t have a all-rounder who’s a match winner 😜?
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) July 21, 2020
Bro Yuvraj Singh has officially retired...
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) July 21, 2020
😂 I knew that was coming ! Waise aap bhi kuch kam nahi they ! 👊🏽
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) July 21, 2020
After former captain, Kapil Dev, Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan took up the all-rounder's role in the national side. Pathan, who started as left-arm bowler, steadily made progress with his batting. The ex-Baroda cricketer played 120 ODIs and 29 Tests and 24 T20Is for India, scoring over 2000 runs in all three formats. Overall, Pathan has over 300 wickets in his international career.
On the other hand, Yuvraj Singh had a glorious career in which played 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20 Internationals for India from 2003 to 2017. He scored 8,701 runs in ODIs with 14 centuries and 52 fifties and took 111 wickets. In Test cricket, Yuvraj Singh amassed 1,900 runs.
Fans react to Irfan Pathan-Yuvraj Singh Twitter banter
We have Better All-rounders Than Stokes 😎 🇮🇳💙 We Have @imjadeja @hardikpandya7 @vijayshankar260 and Many More ..! Ben Stokes isn’t a World Class Player ..... U r still Better than him but unfortunately u retired 😌 IPL is perfect platform and he failed
— Varun Goswami (@msdianvarun710) July 21, 2020
Hardik is Indian version of Stokes yes also West Indian version of Russel very very highly rated. Irfan you had a genuine talent to become a world class (Likes of Kallis, Stokes, Flintoff, Kapil, Imran not Yuvi, Jadeja et al) all rounder but they wasted your talent.
— Pradeep Bastola🇳🇵 (@PradeepBastola) July 21, 2020
Ben Stokes is indeed a genuine all rounder, sorry to say but Jaddu is mostly a bit and pieces cricketer who has never won matches with bat, Pandya hasn't got the temperament, attitude, endurance, He is capable of one off knocks but I don't see him getting close to consistency.
— Abhishek singh (@Futurrackz) July 21, 2020
No sir ji benstokes 😯is good in all format that's right but we have also a yuvi, 🤓t20 format hardik and one of most dedicated allrounder that is ravindra jadeja so keep remember these thing may god bless you 😇
— Pradhumparashar (@pradhumparashar) July 22, 2020
@ECB_cricket might have just one match winning all-rounder but we have two all-rounders namely @hardikpandya7 and @imjadeja who can change the game in TEAM INDIA's favour on any given day if they play to their potential.
— Ganesh yadav (@GaneshY22193790) July 21, 2020
How long do you think will it take for Hardik Pandya to reach that consistency in all three formats? At the start of his career Ben Stokes also didn’t have the best of times. India should invest in Hardik Pandya patiently and wisely!
— Kartik Jain (@kartikj83) July 21, 2020
England vs West Indies: Teams eye series win
The England vs West Indies three-match series is currently tied at 1-1 and both the teams will be battling to win the series at Old Trafford in Manchester on Friday. After winning the 1st Test at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, West Indies were outplayed by England in the second Test at Old Trafford following Ben Stokes' all-round show.
England could welcome pacer Jofra Archer back for the final Test after he was banned from the second Test for violating the team's bio-secure protocol and he was also fined an undisclosed amount by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It now remains to be seen who will have the last laugh in the series-decider or whether both teams will have to share the trophy in case the contest ends in a stalemate.
(COVER IMAGE: IRFAN PATHAN / ENGLAND CRICKET/ INSTAGRAM)
13:40 IST, July 23rd 2020