'They made Virat Kohli captain, Whom did we bring? - Shoaib Akhtar explains the difference in mindset in India and Pakistan's cricket

Pakistan’s former fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar has been quite vocal about his thoughts on world cricket. He owns a Youtube channel and can be often seen praising the Indian cricket and India’s captain, Virat Kohli. In the recent interaction, he was questioned about the criticism he faces from Pakistan’s fans on applauding the Indian cricketers.

The speedster explained about the recent change in the level of cricket in the two neighbouring countries. Akhtar lauded Virat Kohli as the best player in the world in his response. He also asked the Pakistani fans to refer to stats before questioning his words.

“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?” Shoaib Akhtar said on the YouTube Show ‘Cricket Pakistan’.

Why don’t you try and be like them, questions Shoaib Akhtar

He also praised the Indian cricket by saying that BCCI always bring the best people at top unlike Pakistan. Akhtar feels that this is the reason why India has edged ahead of Pakistan. He also asked the Pakistani team to learn from India and also pointed out that it was vice-versa in the late 90s.

“Why do you always try to find faults, why don’t you try and be like them. There was a time when Indians wanted to be like Pakistan. Now, Pakistan want to be like Indians. In late 90s, India would raise their hands that we don’t want to play in Sharjah against Pakistan.

“Our mindset was made to change by bringing average people on the top. They brought average people to be the captain of the team. Look at what India got – they made Virat Kohli the captain, an aggressive player. Who did we bring?” the 45-year-old further added.

Shoaib Akhtar also mentioned that nobody approached him to become a chief selector of the national team. Also, as per him, a chief selector should change the mindset of the whole setup and a straight forward person would be a best fit for that role.

“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. But I do know that the general public wants someone who thinks like me in charge of selecting players. A person who is straightforward and demands performances from the cricketers.” he concluded.