‘If India have an extra spinner, give one to us,’ jokes Pakistani legend Waqar Younis

Waqar Younis joked that India could send one of their surplus spinners to help the Pakistan cricket team, which had a losing start to the Champions Trophy. The retired pacer made the funny remark during a Champions Trophy pre-match show on DP World Dressing Room in a Dubai studio on Thursday.

Waqar was joined by fellow Pakistani legend Wasim Akram, retired India international Nikhil Chopra and Cheteshwar Pujara on the show that went on air a few hours before India played their opener against Bangladesh in Dubai.

While previewing the game, India international Pujara discussed India's wealth of spin-bowling options. "...there was speculation that maybe Ravindra (Jadeja) will sit out. It also appeared that Varun (Chakravarthy) will miss out, and Kuldeep (Yadav) will play instead," Pujara said.

At this point, Waqar intervened and said, "If you have an extra spinner, give one to us." The remark led to a burst of laughter in the studio, which was a welcome change considering the bitter rivalry between the nations, both on and off the field, particularly in cricket. India play Pakistan in Dubai on February 23.

Though the cricket great was just joking about having an Indian spinner play for the neighbouring country, it was a hard-hitting one considering Pakistan's disappointing outing against New Zealand in their event opener in Karachi on Wednesday, which they lost by 60 runs. Pakistani bowlers, in particular their spinners, failed to have an impact.

Leg spinner Abrar Ahmed castled Devon Conway early on but could not produce another wicket, while Khushdil Shah and Salman Agha went wicketless as New Zealand posted 320/5. Meanwhile, New Zealand spinners Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell shared four wickets between them.

India's 15-member squad comprises five spinners namely Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy.