MS Dhoni was named India T20 World Cup captain in 2007 and all-format skipper in 2008.
India and Pakistan both suffered big losses in the group stage, with India losing to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Group B. On the other hand, Pakistan lost to the West Indies and Ireland, and both the teams crashed out of the tournament.
As a result, the BCCI moved forward with youngsters as MS Dhoni became the new captain of the T20Is and took over as all-format captain in 2008. Since then, the Indian team has gone from strength to strength, winning the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy under his captaincy.
Since then, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have done amazingly well, and the Indian team is now on top in white-ball cricket and has been in the top 3 in Test cricket as well.
Mohammad Yousuf stated that the 2007 World Cup elimination was a “decisive moment” for both India and Pakistan, and the Men in Blue have surged ahead of their arch rivals due to correct decision-making by the BCCI.
“It was a decisive moment for both cricket boards, and I just feel that after that, the Indian board made the right calls, like appointing MS Dhoni, etc., while in contrast, in Pakistan, the wrong calls were made, because of which Pakistan cricket is struggling now,” Yousuf said on a YouTube podcast.
Yousuf said India is also reaping benefits of having players being nurtured by former captain and head coach Rahul Dravid.
“India's success also comes down to the way Rahul Dravid managed their junior cricket, and over the years, the work he put in identifying and grooming players has paid off for them now. I think Virat (Kohli) is the best white-ball player of this era. Unfortunately, after 2019, we have not produced the sort of players you need to maintain dominance at the top level, the sort of players we had in the 80s or 90s,” Yousuf said.
Yousuf further stated that current Pakistani players do not want to work hard.
“The unfortunate part is that I feel some of these current players don't want to also put in the extra hours and hard work. I have been a batting coach with the Pakistan team, and I can tell you at times felt these players didn't want to learn. Cricket is a sport where no matter how much you have played, you learn something new every day. The moment you think you know everything is when you start going downhill,” Yousuf added.
Yousuf, who has served as the national team's selector and batting coach, believes Pakistan performed better when Sarfaraz Ahmed was captain.
“I felt that Sarfaraz sacrificed a lot for his team because he wanted to see the team do well. I remember telling him, ‘Why don't you bat higher?' and he said, ‘For him, the team result mattered the most, not his position',” he said.
Pakistan’s problems started when Sarfraz Ahmed was sidelined, and frequent changes to the combination have also not worked well for Pakistan. Yousuf used his own experience as an example to explain why, after just two events, he was fired as the junior team's head coach.
“I don't know; it made no sense,” he said.
Yousuf said Babar Azam has technical flaws in his batting, which he is not working on.
“I spent time with Babar in New Zealand when I was batting coach, trying to make him understand where he was going wrong, but he was unwilling to make any changes,” Yousuf said.
Yousuf also declined the notion that social media pressure could be playing its part.
“Tell me, isn't the social media pressure more on Indian players, so how do they manage? This is just an excuse; as a professional cricketer, you have to dedicate a lot of time to maintaining and improving your art,” Yousuf said.
Yousuf said senior players not listening to coaches was a problem in Pakistan cricket.
“We tend to blame the coaches for everything, but what can a coach do when the players don't do what they are supposed to do?,” he said.
(PTI inputs)