Indian players think IPL is enough and they don’t take international series seriously – Akram

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram believes India players are not taking the limited-overs formats seriously, which is behind their poor performance in the ICC T20 World Cup. The legendary player pointed out the last big international limited-overs series the senior players played together was in March with England.

Although the players took part in the IPL in UAE, no amount of league cricket can match the standards of international cricket.

“India last played a limited-overs series with all the senior players in March. Now we are in November. So that shows they are not taking those international series seriously. They think playing the IPL is enough. You play as much league cricket in the world that you want. While playing league cricket, you will find one or two good bowlers in the opposition. In international cricket, you will face all five good bowlers,” Akram said on A Sports following India’s defeat to New Zealand.

Akram further added India did play three ODIs and three T20Is in Sri Lanka around July end, but the team had young players as the senior team was in England. He even spoke about the toss factor and demotion of Rohit Sharma in the batting order.

“It wasn’t a great game. It was a one-sided game. India committed a lot of mistakes. When they lost the toss, I feel they were pushed back a little psychologically. The biggest mess-up was downgraded Rohit Sharma to 3 in a crucial, do-or-die game. The guy has got four centuries in T20Is as opener. They could have made Ishan Kishan bat at 3 too. This was the start when the panic button was pressed,” Akram pointed out.