Shoaib Akhtar also clarified that he has not been approached to be the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) CEO. (Source: File)Shoaib Akhtar has defended his stance of praising India captain Virat Kohli and his white-ball deputy Rohit Sharma and added that there is a gulf of quality between them and the Pakistan cricketers.
The former Pakistan pacer, criticising Pakistan’s performance on their tour of England last month, had praised the likes of Kohli and Rohit. When Akhtar was asked in a recent interaction with Cricket Pakistan about people criticising him for often lauding the neighbours, he explained that Kohli deserves all the praise coming his way.
“Why should I not praise Indian players and Virat Kohli? Is there any player in Pakistan, or all over the world, who comes close to Kohli?” Akhtar asked.
“I don’t know why people are angry, they should go look at the stats first before criticising me. Do they want to keep the hatred in mind, that just because he is an Indian, we will not praise him?” he further said.
The 45-year-old also spoke about his thoughts on how their arch-rivals got an edge over Pakistan.
“Our mindset changed by bringing average people to the top… we brought average people to be the captain of the team. Look at who India got — they made Virat Kohli the captain, an aggressive player. Who did we bring?” Akhtar added.
Addressing the reports of him being approached to be the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) CEO, Akhtar said, “Nobody has approached me for the role of chief selector.”
“Be it me or any other person, the important thing as chief selector is the change in mindset — which we desperately need. That person and the head coach need to be on the same page for the betterment of the team.”