The Indian cricket board making the right calls is the reason behind their national team’s progress since the 2007 ODI World Cup when compared to Pakistan, says former captain Mohammad Yousuf.
Both India and Pakistan were eliminated in the group stage of the 2007 ODI World Cup in the Caribbean, and Yousuf said it was a “decisive moment” for the two arch rivals, from which the former has edged ahead. “It was a decisive moment for both cricket boards, and I just feel that after that, the Indian board made the right calls, like appointing MS Dhoni, etc., while in contrast, in Pakistan, the wrong calls were made, because of which Pakistan cricket is struggling now,” Yousuf said on a YouTube podcast.
Unfortunately, after 2019, we have not produced the sort of players you need to maintain dominance at the top level, the sort of players we had in the 80s or 90s,” Yousuf said. Because he wanted to see the team do well, “I felt that Sarfaraz sacrificed a lot for his team.
Yousuf said India are also reaping benefits of having players being nurtured by former captain and head coach Rahul Dravid. I have been a batting coach with the Pakistan team, and I can tell you at times felt these players didn’t want to learn,” he said. Yousuf, who has served as the national team’s selector and bating coach, said Pakistan were still doing better when Sarfaraz Ahmed was their captain. I remember telling him, ‘Why don’t you bat higher?’ and he said, ‘For him, the team result mattered the most, not his position’,” he said. Citing his example, Yousuf said he himself couldn’t understand why he was removed as head coach of the junior team after just two events. “I don’t know; it made no sense,” he said.
“I think Virat (Kohli) is the best white-ball player of this era. “The unfortunate part is that I feel some of these current players don’t want to also put in the extra hours and hard work.
