"In The Last 12 Years...": Shoaib Akhtar On India's Failure In ICC Events

The Cricket World Cup final is over and the analysis of Indian cricket team's loss has already started. Despite being the best team in the Cricket World Cup 2023 till the semi-final stage, the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team could not pass the final hurdle and lost to Australia. Both in the bowling and batting departments, the Pat Cummins-led Australia were the better side. India failed to post a competitive total and were restricted to 240 while Australia reached the target with seven overs to spare. 

Pakistan pace great Shoaib Akhtar congratulated India on their entry into the final but added that the pitch for the Cricket World Cup final left a lot to be desired.

"India did not reach the final by luck. They made it to the final by playing brilliantly and they fought well. However, I was a bit disappointed with the pitch used for the game. I wish India prepared a better pitch and had not gone with a timid approach. You have red soiled pitch. Had there been more bounce and pace, the toss would not have played such a big role. India could have done better,” the ex-cricketer said in a video shared on his YouTube channel.

"I want to congratulate India for playing in the World Cup final. It is not an easy feat to achieve. They reached here by decimating other teams. Unfortunately, they always fall short in such matches. In the last 12 years or so, we have seen that they come very close to winning the trophy but somehow fail to do so. Luck has not favoured Team India. The Australians have got great nerves, they know how to control it."

Indian cricket team coach Rahul Dravid also said, in the post match presentation, that the nation should be proud of its players. 

"I think there will be some disappointment but I think they got to watch the Indian team play and have a fantastic campaign right through the World Cup. I said that at the start of the tournament, that we'd be traveling to, we eventually went to 11 cities, played in front of our fans, truly grateful for the kind of support that we received," he said.

"Every single venue we went to was packed. People came out to watch. It was a great privilege to play in front of our fans and I thought the team did really well and really entertained the fans. So, while there may be some disappointments today, I think there's a lot of joy that this team has given to the people over the last couple of months.

"It was a privilege, I think, this tournament, just to see. I think there's no doubt that the fans of the subcontinent are truly great fans. They make this game the great game that it is, without a doubt. And what would we do without the fans in the subcontinent? And I think for us to be able to play in front of them and to entertain them and to play the brand of cricket that I think a lot of people really enjoyed watching was a privilege. So yeah, of course there's disappointment. Everyone wants us to win. There's disappointment. There's more disappointment in our dressing room than anywhere else. But like I said, there's a lot of positives to reflect on as well."

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Shoaib Akhtar World Cup 2023 Cricket