"India will need to look at their captain and also team management"- Shoaib Akhtar reacts to India's thumping loss to England in T20 World Cup semifinal
Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar shared his thoughts on Team India's exit from the T20 World Cup in the semi-finals today (November 10). He believes captain Rohit Sharma and the team management made quite a few baffling decisions, leading to their exit.
The Men in Blue lost by 10 wickets against England at the Adelaide Oval in the second semi-final of the tournament today.
Shoaib Akhtar questioned the sudden inclusion of Mohammed Shami and also was confused while trying to understand their strongest possible XI. He feels that not showing enough composure in crunch moments is becoming a recurring issue for the team in such huge tournaments.
In a video on his YouTube channel, here's what Shoaib Akhtar had to say after India's embarrassing loss against England:
"When it comes to ICC tournaments, India will need to look at their captain and also team management. They took a hasty decision to bring Shami out of nowhere. He is a good bowler but you never understood what was their strongest XI."
Shoaib Akhtar on India's poor powerplay
Captain Rohit Sharma had been quite vocal about the idea of the Indian team to play ultra-aggressive cricket and make full use of the powerplay. However, the Men in Blue weren't quite able to replicate that in the T20 World Cup. Shoaib Akhtar was baffled to see the lack of urgency in the powerplay by the batters.
He also expressed his shock at the decision to play Ravichandran Ashwin instead of Yuzvendra Chahal, despite the leg-spinners doing well in the tournament.
- Saal bhar Chahal khela, didn't play a single game in WC.
- Saal bhar Dk khela, knockouts me drop kr diya
- Saal bhar Harshal Patel khela, didn't play a single game in WC.
- Saal bhar Shami ko sideline kiya, aur seedha WC squad me daal diya.
On this, he stated:
"Your powerplay score is just better than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. There is no depth in spin department. If Adil Rashid can play then why not Chahal? Ashwin has no future. What is your planning? I don't understand anything."
It will be interesting to see if senior players like Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, and others will continue in the T20I team.