In the past year, Team India’s strength in depth has increased so much, that BCCI has fielded multiple combinations across formats. Hardik Pandya led in Rohit Sharma’s absence, and is in line to take over as captain in the white ball formats, should the ‘Hitman’ move along after the ODI World Cup 2023.
With the onus shifting on the ODI World Cup 2023, stalwarts such as Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli’s workload management will become key and thus it may no longer come as a surprise if the pair don’t feature in the T20 format any more.
It has been an incredible rise for the Indian team, given the talented pool of players there’s so much competition that players such as Sanju Samson and Prithvi Shaw often find it difficult to play regularly.
However, the bench strength of the Indian team has also earned admirers from around the globe, particularly from across the border as Pakistan’s star wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal lauded the Indian management while taking a sly dig at Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
When quizzed about following India’s model to make multiple teams in the Pakistan setup, Akmal had a rather brutal take.
Speaking to Paktv.tv, Akmal was quizzed whether Pakistan should have 2 teams like India and he replied, “Pehle aap ek toh poori kar lein (Firstly, you need to complete your first team).”
Further shedding light on the issue, Akmal added that scrapping the department cricket took a toll on Pakistan’s bench strength.
“You could’ve made 2-3 teams before 2018-19. Your domestic cricket was there. Department cricket was so rich in Pakistan. I know this because I’ve played there for years. Since we topped it, making even one team is difficult,” the veteran stated.
“If having six teams was so beneficial, Fawad Alam wouldn’t have made a comeback after so many years,” he added.
Pakistan have endured some mixed results of late under Babar Azam’s captaincy, they did reach the final of the T20 World Cup as well as the Asia Cup 2022 but failed to win either of the two trophies.
Then they were whitewashed at home by England, which marked a dismal end to their home record in red-ball cricket in the year 2022.
Get the latest Cricket News, Schedule and Cricket Live Scores here
Comments
0 comment