T20 World Cup 2024: Kamran Akmal wants India to make one change for Pakistan clash

Former Pakistani cricketer Kamran Akmal warned India over their batting order by saying "India is making a mistake" ahead of the most anticipated match against Pakistan on Sunday. 

The right-handed batter believes that India should consider changing its batting order by placing Virat Kohli at no.3. The former captain of India should be replaced with Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Akmal supported his view by giving the example of India vs Ireland on Wednesday (June 5), where Kohli was dismissed by scoring just one run off five balls. The opener should be playing at no.3 where he can guide the team in the middle orders.

“I don’t think the batting order is correct. Virat Kohli can take the pressure at No.3 and finish the match. That is very important for Team India. Yashasvi Jaiswal should open the batting. Kohli should come at 3,” Akmal, who played 268 games for Pakistan, said in a video on his YouTube channel.

Meanwhile, India’s most successful Test captain had a great experience of playing as an opener for his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He was awarded with the Orange Cap in the recent season of IPL, for scoring 741 runs at a strike rate of 154.

Moreover, India did play really well against Ireland in the first match, but their real Test is against Pakistan on Sunday (June 9). Following Pakistan’s defeat against the USA, they must be all set to bounce back in the upcoming match with India.

“If India stick to this batting order (of Kohli) opening, then they may get stuck at some point. Kohli holds one end up and finishes off the game. I think India are making a mistake by opening with Kohli,” he added.

The wicket-keeper batter commented over the quality of the pitches in New York and asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to ensure better pitches for the big matches.

“ICC will have to produce better pitches for big matches. Otherwise, people will go away from this World Cup,” he warned.

Squads

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj. Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.