Pakistani wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal recognizes the huge pool of talented players in Indian cricket. He said India works at the grassroots level and prioritizes their red-ball cricket which has made them successful.
Akmal also talked about the positive mindset of the Indian cricketers and the former India cricketers have a role to play in it. He believes the involvement of the likes of Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble is helping in the growth of Indian cricket and they are preparing the budding cricketers for the future.
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“India have not compromised on their red-ball cricket. At school level, India have two-day, three-day cricket. Today, they have a pool of 50 players because Indian cricket has given a lot of importance to Test cricket. Among all the legends of Indian cricket, except MS Dhoni, no one has retired after playing white-ball cricket. All the others played a Test match as their last one. That gives us a great idea of their vision: how to build a team, how to bring in players into the Indian set-up,” Akmal said in his YouTube channel.
The 39-year-old, who has played 53 Test matches for Pakistan, gave the example of Suryakumar Yadav while talking about the Indian players having good experience of domestic cricket before coming to the international level.
“Their white-ball or List A players, when they enter the international scene, they have already played 40 to 50 games. Take the example of Suryakumar Yadav, who recently made his India debut after a long wait. Most of these players have a minimum domestic experience of four to five years. When they come into the Indian team, they are already mature enough.”
“The mindset of Indian cricket is commendable. Look at all the Indian legends from the 90s - from Rahul Dravid to Anil Kumble to VVS Laxman - all of them are involved in Indian cricket in some way or the other. That is helping the new generation. And this not just for IPL; they keep an eye on domestic cricket as well, be it Virender Sehwag or Yuvraj Singh. They (India) haven’t changed their (brand of) cricket, but they have elevated their existing level,” Akmal concluded.
