The former skipper of Pakistan cricket team, Javed Miandad, who is known for his scathing remarks, was all praises for Indian captain Virat Kohli.
Miandad also said that Pakistan was not producing players of Kohli’s calibre. Giving the example of recent International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 World Cup match between India and Pakistan, Miandad said that it showed the huge gulf in talent between cricketers of both the countries.
“Winning and losing is part of the game but when I watched the semi-final, I could see the gap between the two teams in terms of game sense, professionalism and system,” Miandad said to PTI.
“One main reason for that is Virat Kohli. He is, without doubt, the best today. He has the technique and temperament and approach to get runs anywhere. We are not producing players of his calibre for a number of reasons,” Miandad said, adding, “Kohli has improved over the years and one can see he works hard individually on his game.”
Miandad also said that earlier in the past, Pakistan used to produce world-class players. He said that their players used to be way better than any other country, including India. Miandad also blamed Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for lagging behind and said it was happening because of their non-professional attitude.
“They don’t seem to understand the importance of U-19 cricket or domestic cricket. Their main focus is the PSL. But even for the PSL to become better and greater, we need to first salvage our cricket system,” Miandad added.
“We won the Champions Trophy out of nowhere. It was a great performance and it injected life into cricket in Pakistan. But we manage to do this only because of our raw talent,” he said.
“Just imagine if that talent is groomed through a proper selection system and in a strong cricket system what we can achieve,” he added.
“To make matters worse, present cricketers, I don’t think are spending enough time individually on sharpening their skills. Fitness is very important but so is working on one’s skill level,” he said.