'Ravi Shastri and India's youngsters achieved the impossible': Akhtar explains reasons behind India's historic win
Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar praised India's historic series win in Australia and credited the system and the investment India made in the past 20 years for the result. Akhtar lauded Rahul Dravid for grooming the youngsters who won the series for India and also said that coach Ravi Shastri's decision to allow the youngsters to express themselves proved to be the correct one.
"I was thinking about the reasons behind India's win at Gabba. They won because of the investment they made 20 years ago. These kids that came solidified India's bench strength. This investment is paying back to India," Akhtar said in his latest Youtube video.
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"India started the IPL, the players got exposure, and they made use of it. The Indian players learned from playing along with overseas cricketers and gained confidence from that," he added.
"But think about it. Who was the player that was given charge of the academy? The best Test player produced in the country, Rahul Dravid. Because they did not want to spoil the kids. He created the U-19 team, he established players in the academy, and now these Indian kids are beating Australia.
"The bench strength of India with these youngsters won this Test. A system has won that India had invested in past 10-20 years ago. They brought solid, honest hardworkers, and people who were not in it to make money. They were people who cared about cricket. Rahul Dravid came first, and then Sourav Ganguly, Ravi Shastri.
"Look at Rishabh Pant, he is so fearless. He does not care. But who gives him the confidence and freedom to play freely? The management. The management tells him to go and play freely and win the match. He almost won the third Test, he won the 4th Test. The environment and management are allowing him to play his game," Akhtar said.
"Teams are made in the dressing room. No matter how much you criticise him, he won a series in Australia without his key players. He allowed the youngsters to shine. And these youngsters were made available by the system.
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"Ravi Shastri and the youngsters have done what was considered impossible. Shastri has a mindset where he showed faith in the young players and they exploded on to the scene. Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Siraj, Gill, Pant, Mayank Agarwal - these youngsters did not see what was happening around them, and just played their game and won the match.
"The board that invests in youngsters, and bring in solid people to build a team, only they will get such results. This is one of the top 3 best series in history. India won without key players. India's kids won this. They showed that their investment, their system is so solid, that they can win even with all odds stacked against them," Akhtar signed off.
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