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"Virat Kohli isn't captaincy material" : Shoaib Akhtar

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Former Pakistan express bowler-turned IPL pundit Shoaib Akhtar pulls no punches in an interview with Mirror.

Candid and straight-shooting as ever, Shoaib Akhtar rubbishes criticism against him, picks Rahul Dravid over Sachin Tendulkar, feels Mohammad Shami lacks attitude and aggression, and blasts past chairmen of Pakistan cricket. Akthar is in town as the Global Eco Ambassador of Mission Earth 21 by the designer Amy Billimoria who is launching a special Earth 2 collection for the Earth Day.

How has life been post retirement?

I am enjoying myself, I am happy, I attend functions, I teach players in Pakistan... life has been good.

Are you disappointed that Pakistan players are not in IPL?

Of course. I think it's a no-win situation for both - IPL organisers and Pakistan players. I hope things will improve in the next IPL.

What is happening in Pakistan cricket? Chairmen in PCB change with alarming regularity...

The truth is that PCB has been a leaderless body for the last 15 years. Our previous chairman Nazim Ashraf was a complete nuisance. In fact, we have had quite a few terrible chairmen. The new man, Najam Sethi , looks a man of calibre- but needs to take some tough decisions quickly.

Why doesn't your idol Imran Khan take up the cleansing act?

He should raise his hand and I think he will. But Imran's first priority is to clean up the corruption in the government.

Adismissal you'll never forget?

My first ball to Tendulkar, which shattered his stumps. Also, that delivery which hit Lara on his head.

The toughest batsman?

Dravid. That man gave me nightmares. I was plain lucky to get him out many times. He was the only batsman who could come in line with my deliveries.

Why did you quit?

My knee was giving me a problem. I took the treatment, but in hindsight I think I should have hung up my boots in 2003 itself.

But then how come you were very keen to play the semi-final against India in the 2011 World Cup?

I had a gut feeling that I could put a lot of pressure on India. But I was told that I am unfit to play. I even bowled 5 overs before the match to prove my point. But they didn't listen to me.

I told them that I could make the difference if they let me loose in the first 10 overs. They played Umar Gul instead who was hit for five boundaries in five overs.

You were labeled with a tag 'Not A Team Player'?

That tag is rubbish. When I used to start running in (my run-up), people expected a wicket. This means they had so much faith in me. How could I then be 'Not A Team Player'?

What was the secret of your pace?

Aggression and Attitude. I think India's Shami can bowl much faster than he is bowling now. But he lacks both aggression and attitude. If a fast bowler is hit for a four, he needs to stare at the batsman and maybe say a few things.Shami just turns back and goes to bowl the next ball. Besides, his runup is not smooth. His strides are imbalanced and he fumbles. He needs to work on his run-up and body language. Some senior needs to take him under his wings.

Should Indian team visit Pakistan and vice-versa?

Only if the political situation in both the countries is safe, else why risk it? Till then, better meet on neutral grounds.

How is the political situation in Pakistan now?

Not too good. The fight with Afghanistan is still on. Let the situation improve - I think it will in the next few months. Then you guys should come along. I know Indian cricketers love to play in Pakistan, they love even our food.

Who do you like between the two: MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli?

Dhoni as captain in every format, Virat in batting. Well, Virat is not captaincy material.

Finally, cricket, then and now?

Aaj kal toh it's more of 'close your eyes and keep hitting the ball hard'. The skill and character in the game has disappeared.
Click to expand...

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/sport/cricket/Virat-not-captain-material/articleshow/34224131.cms
 
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The truth is that PCB has been a leaderless body for the last 15 years. Our previous chairman Nazim Ashraf was a complete nuisance. In fact, we have had quite a few terrible chairmen. The new man, Najam Sethi , looks a man of calibre- but needs to take some tough decisions quickly.

Of course, he's looking for a job in Pakistan cricket now. How can he speak the truth regarding the current chairman?

Shoaib is another broken record who keeps whinging just to get a post in the PCB. Watch him criticize Najam once he leaves the post as chairman. Contradicting himself certainly isn't news for Shoaib.
 
I liked Shoaib's no nonsense attitude in IPL

Very refreshingly candid analysis.

One day, he was talking about CSK's fielding and was naming all the great fielders in CSK one by one. Suddenly he remembered Ashwin and said: "No not Ashwin. He doesn't field well. I saw him." And then continues on with his analysis.

But I dunno why he goes overboard when talking to media in Pakistan.

Is it a restrained Akhtar in IPL studios? Looks so.

Hope Akhtar throws away his restraint one day and pounces on Sidhu in the IPL studios. That day I would fully support Akhtar to whoop Sidhu.

Go Akhtar. Go. Do it for us.
 
I've always thought Kohli was being prepared to be the next captain for India in all formats?

Excitable young chap at times though which may not work as skipper.
 
Just because he likes to get into oppositions face doesn't mean he wont make a good skipper. Dhoni is one of a kind, we can't expect anyone like him again, to be so cool under any situation. Although with Kohli we can hope of getting better in tests (away) again.

Kohli believes in attacking the opposition, MS kinda holds back (which is fine in LOI's but not in tests). Also in his short span as captain so far he's shown a lot of maturity in handling the pacers. IIRC under him in Asia cup Bhuvy and Shami were given a lot of overs in death. Expect him to give pacers more confidence, while MS was comfortable giving spinners all the responsibility.
 
Kohli is like ganguly. At your face and tries different things. Dhoni waits for things to happen. He loves trundlers and part timers.
 
Kohili needs to get over himself first if he wants to become captain.

Dhoni is a calm and measured man who marshals his troops well. Dhoni strategy in full flow is art.

Kohli captaincy after 1 year would create infights and breakdown. Asia cup performance was sub par, too aggressive and reactive.
 
Can't really make a judgement right now.

During the Asia cup I though he did a decent job, handled the pacers well bowled them upfront and kept them for the death where Dhoni prefers spinners at times, felt under Kohli pacers were more pro-active. His bowling changes were good during the Pak v Ind game he was just unlucky that Afridi showed up that day.

Obviously he has a lot to learn, but like I said you can't really say much right now.
 
Kohli is being groomed as the next Captain of the side and he will become better under Dhoni... He's keeping his cool these and that's an improvement.. :yk
 
Pujara should be India's next Test captain.

Kohli captain for LOI's.
 
Mark my words. Kohli will become the most successful captain India has ever produced. Evidence was there for everyone to see when he captained Indian team in Asia cup.
 
Zanjeer said:
Mark my words. Kohli will become the most successful captain India has ever produced. Evidence was there for everyone to see when he captained Indian team in Asia cup.
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Nope, maybe in Tests but Dhoni will be too tough to trump in ODI's.
 
Bhaag Viru Bhaag said:
Kohli is like ganguly. At your face and tries different things. Dhoni waits for things to happen. He loves trundlers and part timers.
Click to expand...
Going by the statements he's made to the media, he knows the real ability of his specialist bowlers. He prefers to play bits and piece players who can contribute something with the bat because he believes the specialist bowlers aren't good enough. Which is fair enough, most of us would probably go the same route if we were in his position.
 
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He did lead IND to U19 WC and is aggressive with his bowling changes and field placements which is quite opposite of Dhoni ... i think he will do well in Test cricket
 
Aman said:
Going by the statements he's made to the media, he knows the real ability of his specialist bowlers. He prefers to play bits and piece players who can contribute something with the bat because he believes the specialist bowlers aren't good enough. Which is fair enough, most of us would probably go the same route if we were in his position.
Click to expand...

There is a reason why bowlers with really good skills, like Bhuvi, Shami, Yadav, have all regressed under his leadership. These same bowlers have been praised for their skills by some of the best fast bowlers in business. What you have said in your post is a looserish attitude, a statesman should look to build for the future, instead of concentrating on short term gains. This is also the reason why, we do well at home but not so well abroad, bits and pieces bowlers can only win for you at home
 
Indiafan said:
There is a reason why bowlers with really good skills, like Bhuvi, Shami, Yadav, have all regressed under his leadership. These same bowlers have been praised for their skills by some of the best fast bowlers in business. What you have said in your post is a looserish attitude, a statesman should look to build for the future, instead of concentrating on short term gains. This is also the reason why, we do well at home but not so well abroad, bits and pieces bowlers can only win for you at home
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Kumar and Shami are good prospects, hence they've been selected more often that not. I don't think Dhoni doubts BK's skills with the new ball, but he probably has doubts over Kumar's ability with older ball and bowling at the death, hence why he's quite often bowled his 10 right up front. That being said BK has improved quite a bit with bowling at the death, so it will be interesting to see how Dhoni uses BK now.

Yadev isn't even worth mentioning, he's been given opportunity after opportunity and has done nothing to suggest he's up to international level :sami
 
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Shoaib Akhtar said:
But then how come you were very keen to play the semi-final against India in the 2011 World Cup?


S: I had a gut feeling that I could put a lot of pressure on India. But I was told that I am unfit to play. I even bowled 5 overs before the match to prove my point. But they didn't listen to me.

I told them that I could make the difference if they let me loose in the first 10 overs. They played Umar Gul instead who was hit for five boundaries in five overs


http://www.mumbaimirror.com/sport/cricket/Virat-not-captain-material/articleshow/34224131.cms
Click to expand...

These subtleties really tell you the difference between a quality man and a little childish boy. Pretty classless from Shoaib, but then again this is what we have come to expect from him. I had a lot of respect for him when he played and even when he retired.

He had a lot of ambitions too, in one interview with Ramiz Raja in 2008 he said he would retire after getting 400 ODI wickets. You can only look at how many wickets he got in ODI when he retired.

I must admit, when he talks he does give an aura of sincerity and candidness, but then when you really look at the things that he is saying and you just shake your head at his immaturity. But then again, this is what we have come to expect from a lot of the recent Pakistan ex-players (biggest example: MoYo). Not to say that we don't have some classy men (see: Inzamam).

Remember back in the first season of IPL? He was buddy-buddy with King Khan, this was highly publicised and in fact in the same interview with Ramiz Raja (in the Ramiz Raja lounge thing they had on TV back in 2008), he talks about his lovely relationship with King Khan. You can take a look at the recent past as recent as the interviews for his book in 2011/2012 to take a look at how he feels about King Khan now and how King Khan feels about him.

In the same interview he talks about how great of a relationship he has with...Ijaz Butt. We all know how that turned out, not just for him but for everybody involved in Pk cricket.

I know he was a legend on the pitch, fastest bowler in history. However, this will only last until the next bowler who beats 161.5 km/h. Then he will not be as remembered as some of the more consistent fast bowlers of our generation and the previous generation (Steyn, McGrath, Younis, Akram, Donald, Pollock etc.) Why? I'm sure you all know who Usain Bolt is, but how many of you can name off the top of your head who the last man was to hold the 100 m record? Or the one who held this record 20 years ago?

His act really reminds me of that of a teenage girl in her middle school/high school years trying to get the most attention/be cool through a few small "major" acts that she did a few years ago and when she doesn't get this attention, she gossips about the other girls/boys in the school to bring them down. Personally, I can't wait until Shoaib crosses her high school years, perhaps then she will become a lady.
 
He is definately not yet captaincy material though he is being groomed. He has calmed down a lot and has started respecting cricket a lot more.
With age he has shown improvement and will continue to do so and the best part is he can handle pressure very well. One exciting player to look forward to...
 
Kohli just looses his cool as soon as his team gets a big wicket.. starts jumping about like a 7 year old child! but yah i admit he's a superb batsmen, and he should get more chances as captain
 
Destroyed Sri Lanka 5-0

Hundred on debut against Aussies in Australia against Mitch Johnson and co.

Yeah, talk nah! :kohli
 
From my experience of watching cricket i would suggest not to take Sahhid Afridi, M. Yousuf, Sarfraz Nawaz & Shoaib Akhter seriously.
 
Here's a general rule of thumb: Believe the exact opposite of what Shoaib Akhtar believes. Virat Kohli is tailor-made for captaincy.
 
Shoaib Akhter only supports players like Rohit Sharma and Umer Amin.

He also suggests Umer Amin should captain Pakistan after Misbah. :))
 
But then how come you were very keen to play the semi-final against India in the 2011 World Cup?

I had a gut feeling that I could put a lot of pressure on India. But I was told that I am unfit to play. I even bowled 5 overs before the match to prove my point. But they didn't listen to me.

I told them that I could make the difference if they let me loose in the first 10 overs. They played Umar Gul instead who was hit for five boundaries in five overs.
Click to expand...

No Shoaib,they played Wahab who got a fifer.Gul was Pak's best bowler and was always gonna play :))
 
Akhtar on Misbah - Poor Misbah. What can he do. He is slow and cannot accelerate. He does not have the capacity to do it.

Misbah proceeds to score Fastest Test Hundred. :misbah
 
Vulcan said:
Shoaib Akhter only supports players like Rohit Sharma and Umer Amin.

He also suggests Umer Amin should captain Pakistan after Misbah. :))
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He supports the players from Pindi, he is also a fan of Tanvir.
 
He's right, Kohli get nervous under pressure, should have seen his face in that Asia cup game when Afridi hit the winning runs.

Kohli is a great batsman but not a very good captain and he will have a harder than Dhoni cause he doesn't have any legends in his team and the bowling is pretty subpar too(always has been).
 
Captains learn on the job. As much as I have watched cricket in the last 20 years, I have hardly seen a captain getting it right from the game one. I liked his game from day one, but never approved his behaviour on field. Every now and then he did something that forced me to think that he is very immature, but look at him now, he has come a long way. He does have a very good cricketing brain. I don't think he takes media and reports against him very seriously, which is a good thing. Cricket has changed a lot where captains must think aggressively and should not be afraid of trying new things and I believe that Virat does possess all these qualities.Let's see.
 
I totally agree. I like listening to Akhtar, but don't take every point of his seriously. Unfortunately, This India-Pakistan thing always come in to way. Same goes for posters from both countries. Its a very sad thing.
 
Too early to say.

I will take his comments with a pinch of salt and move on.
 
Where does he actually say "Virat Kohli isn't captaincy material"...he was just picking Dhoni instead of Kohli for captaincy in all formats...
 
Good interview. Spot on with his comments on Kohli, Imran, the PCB and today's cricket.
 
Really liked the way Kohli handled the Warner Aaron situation
 
I don't agree with what Akhtar is saying. Kohli should be India's captain. Having said that he has a tendency to panic when the opposition is on top which is surprising when you consider his batting. So far the opposition has been on top twice since Kohli became captain and that was during the first test in Sri Lanka and now the first test against England. India lost that test against Sri Lanka and will probably lose this one.
 
aliasad1998 said:
I don't agree with what Akhtar is saying. Kohli should be India's captain. Having said that he has a tendency to panic when the opposition is on top which is surprising when you consider his batting. So far the opposition has been on top twice since Kohli became captain and that was during the first test in Sri Lanka and now the first test against England. India lost that test against Sri Lanka and will probably lose this one.
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I love Kohli, great player and leader - but i agree with you 100% he hasn't been tested to the limit yet as captain..
 
As usual, Akhtar way off target. Most of the times.

Kohli is much better than Dhoni and they're in safe hands. Nothing to worry about.
 
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