Pakistan cricket team is playing England in a T20I series currently.© AFP
Former Pakistan cricket team star Kamran Akmal has expressed his agreement to former England captain Michael Vaughan’s “IPL is better than playing against Pakistan” comment. Vaughan made the comment in connection to the ongoing T20I series between Pakistan and England. He believed that England Cricket Board (ECB) should have allowed its players to play in the IPL instead of coming back for the Pakistan series as the former would have been better practice for the upcoming T20 World Cup. In a recent video, Akmal said that he agrees with Vaughan as Pakistan’s performance has been quite disappointing in the recent past and described the IPL as “tough and quality cricket”.
“Over the past few days, I have wondered why a former England captain is commenting and taking Pakistan cricket non-seriously. It has been a painful thought, but I think he was correct in his assessment,” Akmal said on his YouTube channel.
“Everybody knows the level of Pakistan cricket. We are losing against smaller teams like Ireland and in that sense Vaughan said that it is not a tough series. So the fault is ours. Had it been any other team like New Zealand, South Africa and India then Vaughan would not have said it,” he added.
“We need to understand that in IPL, the best bowlers and batters are participating with crowds of 40 to 50,000. So it is tough cricket and quality cricket,” he explained.
Akmal also said that Pakistan should use Vaughan’s comments as ‘motivation’ in the T20 World Cup.
“The state of Pakistan cricket may be in need of a revamp, but this also presents an opportunity for growth. How do we respond to Vaughan’s critique? By showing our mettle in the upcoming T20 series against England. Let’s use this as a catalyst to regain our confidence and competitiveness, lest even teams like USA start to see us as an easy target.”
“The Pakistan cricket Chairman is to blame for all of this as he has completely ruffled the system. For now it remains to be seen if Pakistan cricket team rises to the situation or keeps playing in the same zone as they have done till now,” he concluded.
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