Akhtar, who’s presently taking part in within the Legends League Masters in Qatar, additionally desires Asia Cup 2023 to be held in Sri Lanka if not in Pakistan. Apart from the Asia Cup, Pakistan additionally has the internet hosting rights for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
“I want Asia Cup 2023 to be held in Pakistan, if not Pakistan then Sri Lanka. I want to see India and Pakistan play the final in the Asia Cup and World Cup. Nothing else should happen in world cricket, just India and Pakistan finals,” Shoaib Akhtar advised ANI.
Since Pakistan was awarded the internet hosting rights for the 2023 Asia Cup, there was hypothesis that India will withdraw its identify from the match. In October 2022, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah confirmed that India will not journey to Pakistan for the 2023 Asia Cup.
The new venue shall be determined within the second spherical of the Executive Board assembly of ACC members this month .
Team India final performed in opposition to Pakistan on the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, which India gained by 4 wickets.
After a wait of 1205 days, Virat Kohli on Sunday lastly registered a Test century, mentioning three figures on day 4 of the fourth Test in opposition to Australia in Ahmedabad. Kohli introduced up Test century No.28 after flicking Nathan Lyon for a single and serving to India push in the direction of a vital first-innings lead. There was a spot of 41 innings between his final century and this one, with the earlier one coming over three years in the past in opposition to Bangladesh in November 2019.
Kohli scored 186, forming essential partnerships with Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat and Axar Patel that helped India take the lead in Ahmedabad and finally assist qualify for the ICC World Test Championship remaining in June 2023 at The Oval.
Akhtar feels that with the burden of captaincy faraway from Kohli’s shoulders, he’ll rating runs like a “beast” and cross the 100-century mark.
“Virat Kohli had to get back in form so it’s nothing new for me. The pressure of captaincy was on him, finally, he is now mentally free. Now he will play with so much focus. I have complete faith in him that he will score 110-century and break the record of Sachin Tendulkar’s 100 international tons. Now He doesn’t have a load of captaincy and will score runs like a beast,” Akhtar mentioned whereas applauding Kohli.
The “Rawalpindi Express” mentioned that Sachin Tendulkar is his favorite wicket throughout his worldwide profession.
“I remember once I told my teammate that I will take the wicket of Sachin. At that time we were playing in Kolkata. On the very first ball, I bagged the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar in front of a one lakh crowd. I still remember half of the ground went empty after Sachin returned,” mentioned Akhtar.
(With inputs from ANI)
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com