Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar on Monday advised the Pakistani cricket team to follow Indian cricket and incorporate Indian Captain Virat Kohli’s style of leading the side. He compared Kohli with Pakistan’s cricketer-turned-prime minister Imran Khan who, Akhtar said, made had Pakistan a formidable unit.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Akhtar said: “Imran Khan was not a tactical captain, but he knew how to gather match-winners. Now India is doing the same, see Kohli’s attitude, he plays with a lot of intensity..."
Lauding Kohli for ushering in a revolution in Indian cricket, the former pacer talked about how Virat Kohli was a “fitness freak” and his team completely looks up to him.
“If the captain is agile and sets such standards, the side will obviously follow. I believe this thing used to be there in our side when Imran Khan was the captain”, he said.
Previously, a video of a man insulting Pakistani cricketer Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was with his son, went viral on social media. The man could be heard hurling abuses at Ahmed in the presence of his son and called him a “fat pig”. However, he apologised later.
A shameful act by a Pakistani fan with captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, this is how we treat our National Heros. Highly condemnable!! 😡 pic.twitter.com/WzAj0RaFI7
— Syed Raza Mehdi (@SyedRezaMehdi) June 21, 2019
The team had faced criticism on social media and it was then-skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed who faced the full wrath from former Pakistani cricketers when the country lost to India in the last World Cup.
Meanwhile, Pakistan successfully hosted and celebrated the return to the Test Cricket format in their country for the first time in 10 years by winning 1-0 against Sri Lanka, while the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman said there is no room for doubt over security of cricketers in the Islamic nation.