India are setting up players for South Africa tour and managing the workload well: Kamran Akmal

The former Pakistan keeper-batter Kamran Akmal has heaped praises on the Indian team for managing the workload of their players well. According to him, by choosing some new faces in the ongoing series against New Zealand, India is setting up the squad for the South Africa tour.

India have rested a few key players such as Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, and Ravindra Jadeja for the T20I series, while giving opportunities to the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Ishan Kishan, and a few others making it to the squad.

Akmal thus feels that India has a strong bench strength that helps them to manage the workload of the players. He also praised the team for their performances against the Kiwis.

“It’s a fabulous win, that too with some new players. No other team does that. Because India has a great pool of talent, they are giving them opportunities. They are setting up players for their next South Africa tour and managing the workload pretty well. Rohit’s captaincy has been aggressive, just as he bats.

Despite resting a few key senior players from the team, India is playing wonderfully. It’s a big achievement to play like this against a World Cup finalists,” Kamran Akmal said on his YouTube channel.

New Zealand didn’t take responsibility to carry on momentum: Kamran Akmal

In the second T20I, New Zealand got to a steady start but couldn’t capitalize on it. The team managed to put the target of 154 for India which the hosts chased down comfortably. Akmal shed light on this and took a slight dig at New Zealand’s batting unit.

“It looked like New Zealand won’t repeat their mistakes from the first T20I and will bat well to set a good total. It’s extremely crucial to post a high total against India in India because the pitches there suit batters. Despite scoring 64 runs in the powerplay, they could only get to 153 runs in 20 overs. This clearly shows the weakness of the middle order. They didn’t take the responsibility to carry on the initial momentum,” Akmal asserted.