Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar slammed those who criticise him for praising Indian cricketers. Akhtar has been regularly reviewing the performance of both Pakistan and Indian cricket teams where he did not mince words in describing the recent performance of Pakistan in England. But, at the same time, Akhtar has also praised Indian stars such as current captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma – and this has not gone down gone down well with Pakistan cricket fans.
In a recent interaction with Cricket Pakistan, Akhtar was asked about people criticising him for often applauding Indian cricketers. In his response, Akhtar said that the public should accept that Virat Kohli is one of the top players in the world at the moment, and deserves all the praise coming his way.
“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?” Akhtar asked.
“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 said.
Akhtar went on to ask his detractors to check out the statistics if they have any doubts about Kohli’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?” Akhtar 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.
Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be in action when the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League kicks off from September 19th the in UAE.
