Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar, who is known to speak his heart out, has slammed those who attack him for lauding Indian cricketers.

During the recently held Test series against England, Akhtar called Pakistan a club team and also criticised the national players for their abysmal showing.

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On the other hand, the Rawalpindi Express often praises the Indian stars such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma on his Youtube channel and it is something that has not gone down gone down well with the Pakistani cricket fans.

In a recent interview with Cricket Pakistan, Shoaib was asked about people criticising him for applauding Indian cricketers every now and then.

In his response, the 45-year-old said: “Why should I not praise Indian players and Virat Kohli? Is there any player in Pakistan, or all over the world, which comes close to Kohli?”

“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 added.

Akhtar also suggested his critics to look at Kohli’s numbers if they have any doubts over the India captain’s abilities.

“Kohli has 70 international hundreds right now. Who else has this many hundreds right now in international cricket? How many series has he won for India? Should I not praise him then?” he said.

“This is very strange. We all can see clearly he is the biggest batsmen in the world. He and Rohit Sharma are performing all the time. Why shouldn’t we praise them?” Akhtar further questioned.