Published 22:56 IST, June 12th 2020
Kamran Akmal bats for MS Dhoni to keep wickets for Team India at T20 World Cup
Pakistan's wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal has come forth and thrown weight behind MS Dhoni to keep wickets for the Men in Blue in the upcoming tournament
Amid the reports and opinions of retirement and return, former India skipper MS Dhoni's future in the team still seems to be uncertain. However, with the T20 World Cup approaching closer, Team India still is in search for a definitive player to keep the wickets in the much-anticipated tournament. Now, Pakistan's wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal has come forth and thrown weight behind MS Dhoni to keep wickets for the Men in Blue in the upcoming tournament.
KL Rahul as second choice
During a Q&A session on Friday, when asked by a sports web portal about his pick for Team India's wicketkeeping slot in the T20 World Cup, Akmal chose the Ranchi-lad straightaway. However, the Pakistan batsman also picked KL Rahul as his second choice for the slot. With Rishabh Pant failing to perform consistently, KL Rahul has been donning the gloves across ODIs and T20s for a while now. However, Rahul has not been seen as a long-term option to keep wickets.
During the same session, Akmal also named Babar Azam as his favourite batsman and revealed that he would look up to former skipper Rashid Latif during his young days. He also stated that he is hopeful of representing Pakistan as a 'specialist middle-order batsman' in the longest format of the game. Furthermore, Akmal chose Naseem Shah and Muhammad Nawaz as the bowlers he thinks who will be the 'next big thing' for Pakistan.
Babar Azam picks combined India-Pak T20 XI
While speaking to Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz, Babar Azam picked his combined T20I XI from India and Pakistan cricketers. The 25-year-old chose Rohit Sharma to open the innings alongside him. At No.3, Babar Azam named India skipper Virat Kohli. Azam's next pick was former Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik followed by MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya. In the bowling department, he picked Shadab Khan and Kuldeep Yadav as the two wrist spinners and Mohammad Amir, Jasprit Bumrah and Shaheen Afridi in the pace department.
Updated 22:56 IST, June 12th 2020