Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar says India should have whitewashed Australia in the T20I series. Virat Kohli and co. won the three-match series 2-1, after losing the ODI series with the same scoreline.
India fell 12 runs short of the target in the final T20I and failed to clean sweep Aussies for the second time at home in the shorter format. Akhtar feels the visitors should have taken out their anger of the ODI series loss with a 3-0 win.
“India could have beaten Australia 3-0 but they couldn’t. Australia won the ODIs, India took the T20Is. The anger they should have vented out, they couldn’t. It was an achievable total but India couldn’t chase it down. Again, it was a fierce battle but it’s all done and dusted now,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.
Shoaib is looking forward to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to find out which team is better in the Tests. He wants to see India's response to the upcoming challenges by Australia in the four-match series.
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“It’ll be wonderful to see how India and Australia perform in the Test series. The ultimate test of character we will be able to find out. With two high-profile teams facing each other, we’ll know how the better team is. At times, in ODIs and T20s, it’s not necessary that the better team wins, but come the Test series, you have to show your character and skill sets,” he added.
“It will be interesting to see whether India can come out of that shell and beat Australia in a Test series, which I’m sure they can. The second thing is that Australia will come really hard because they will make sure that it’s not a cakewalk to beat them on their soil.”
Akhtar feels India's bowling attack is potential enough to bag 20 wickets in a Test match. He is eager to see the pacers bowling more wicket-taking lengths than long spells. “I wasn’t to watch some fierce display of fast bowling. I want to see wickets going down in Test matches. I’m not concerned about long spell with good length bowling,” he said.
“It’s fine for those who want to keep bowling one length but the attacking fast bowlers will always come and take wickets. People say India’s bowlers don’t have the wicket-taking ability but Australia do. It is wrong because India too can take 20 wickets.”
(Quotes from Shoaib Akhtar's Youtube Channel)
