Lahore: Following India’s emphatic victory over Bangladesh in the recently-concluded T20I series, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar feels the Men in Blue are on another level at the moment and stand a good chance of winning next year’s World T20 in Australia.
India, who were trailing 0-1 against Bangladesh following their defeat in New Delhi, came out with commanding performances in the next two games to take the three-match rubber 2-1.
“India have proved who the boss is in the match. Though India lost the first game but made a clinical comeback in the series, courtesy Rohit Sharma’s scintillating batting display,” Akhtar said in a video posted on his Youtube channel while mentioning Rohit’s brilliant 85 in Rajkot.
“Rohit is a great talent, he can score runs any time he wants,” Akhtar added.
India, riding on great performances from KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube and Deepak Chahar, won the third and final T20I by 30 runs in Nagpur.
“I thought 3rd T20I will be exciting to watch. However, India came out as a much better side, but hats off to Bangladesh for their spirited performance,” said Akhtar.
Chasing 175, Bangladesh looked all set to take the game away when Mohammad Naim and Mohammed Mithun stitched a 98-run partnership. However, the Bangla Tigers lost a flurry of wickets and were bundled out for 144 on Sunday.
“Bangladesh is no ordinary side, we all must remember that the Tigers are not going to choke in front of any team,” Akhtar said.
The former Pakistan pacer also praised Deepak, who became the first Indian male cricketer to pick up a T20I hat-trick. In fact, his figures of 6/7 are now the best in history of T20 internationals.
“He (Deepak) is a mix of medium pace and seam and he displayed a commendable performance by taking a hat-trick in the game,” he said.
According to the 44-year-old, all India needs to do is strengthen their middle-order and then they can beat the likes of Australia and other superior T20 team at next year’s prestigious tournament scheduled to be played from October 18 to November 15.