Virat Kohli and Babar Azam
The ICC has announced IPL Team of the Decade rather than world cricket, said former speedster Shoaib Akhtar while expressing his displeasure over Pakistan players' absence from the T20I squad.
The ICC, on Sunday, announced Men's T20I, ODI and Test teams of the decade, naming former India skipper MS Dhoni as the skipper of both the limited-overs sides. While the T20I side comprises four Indians, the ODI team has three names.
Apart from Dhoni, two other Indian players who made it to the ODI Team of the Decade are Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The troika was included in the T20I set-up as well.
Akhtar said that Babar Azam, currently ranked No.2 batsman in the shortest format, should've been named in the T20I Team of the Decade. Babar was sitting at the first position in ICC T20I batsmen rankings before Dawid Malan overtook him recently. Interestingly, not a single Pakistan player has been included in any of the Team of the Decade sides.
"I think the ICC has forgotten that Pakistan also plays the T20I format. A big batsman like Babar Azam should've also been included in this squad. Not a single Pakistan player has been included by the ICC. We don't need ICC's T20I Team of the Decade as they've rather announced IPL Team of the Decade," said Akhtar on his YouTube channel.
Slamming the ICC over its recent decisions, Akhtar further said, "ICC has destroyed world cricket and no fast bowler is rising through the ranks due to the game shifting in the favour of the batsmen. If ICC's motive was only money, rights and sponsorships, they should've told it beforehand."
"The ICC has materialized the game and started a dozen of leagues. The ICC only wants World Cups every three years and several leagues happening around the globe,” concluded Akhtar.
ICC’s T20I Team of the Decade: Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, MS Dhoni (c), Kieron Pollard, Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah, and Lasith Malinga.
