While praising former Indian skipper MS Dhoni, Akhtar mentioned, “You won the 2007 World T20 under him, the 2011 World Cup, and then the 2013 Champions Trophy.The moment Dhoni gave up captaincy, things went south for India.”Akhtar, who will not be certain if Rohit was the fitting man for the Indian staff’s captaincy, mentioned: “When I see Rohit, I keep asking this question of myself if he should have accepted captaincy in the first place? I think Rohit feels the panic on occasions and lets the pressure get to him. The pressure of captaincy cripples you, and it happened with Virat Kohli also. That’s why you don’t win a major tournament.”
“Make no mistake, Rohit does have the team to win the World Cup. As a batter, he is perhaps more talented than Virat Kohli. He is a classical batsman, and the kind of shots he plays – just mind blowing. But with captaincy, is he able to do that? Let him prove me wrong and all of us wrong, for that’s what all of India will want him to do in this World Cup,” mentioned Shoaib on the Backstage With Boria World Cup Special on Revsportz.
Commenting on the India-Pakistan recreation, Akhtar mentioned this isn’t meant for the faint-hearted.
“It is not for the faint-hearted. If you are brave enough, it is your platform. If you are a coward or if you are insecure, this match is not for you,” mentioned Akhtar on the India-Pakistan recreation.
India versus Pakistan is essentially the most extremely anticipated encounter, and these two groups are going to conflict with one another within the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka after which within the ICC World Cup 2023. Akhtar has been part of many India-Pakistan encounters, be it bilaterals, the Asia Cup or ICC tournaments like World Cups or the Champions Trophy.
Akhtar went on to say that he was all the time in favour of the Pakistan staff touring India.
“From day one, I have been saying that Pakistan should travel to India and play wherever asked. There was never a question of not travelling to India. Let’s face the truth. India generates the maximum money for world cricket and the ICC actually uses the money that comes from India. It is that money, which is then given to us in Pakistan, which helps fund our domestic cricket. So in a way, it is Indian money which is helping our cricket. So there is no reason why we shouldn’t travel to India and play in front of packed Indian crowds,” mentioned Akhtar.
Akhtar believed Pakistan will begin as underdogs within the match in opposition to India on the ICC World Cup 2023 on the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad and it would truly work for Babar Azam and his staff.
“What will go in our favour is that the Indian media will put enormous pressure on the Indian team. For them, the Indian team can’t lose, and if they lose God help them. This builds enormous pressure on India and it means we are designated underdogs. Frankly, all the pressure is on India and we have nothing to lose. All our boys need to do is play their heart out and beat India in India. Without much pressure, and with all the pressure on India, they can surely do so. Go to India and beat India. That’s what we should do,” he argued.
Pakistan have by no means overwhelmed India in a 50-over world cup. These two groups have performed one another on seven events, and each time India went on to register a victory.
The final time these two groups met in a 50-over World Cup match was manner again in 2019 the place underneath Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India beat Pakistan by 89 runs (D/L Method).
(With ANI inputs)
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com