The Indian team looks listless and disinterested: Akram

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: September 30, 2009

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Johannesburg: Former Pakistan skipper and legendary fast bowler, Wasim Akram, has blasted the Indian team saying that the Indian team playing in the Champions Trophy is looking like a bunch of “disinterested” and “listless” cricketers who have their mind somewhere else and not on the task at hand.

Akram said that the Mahendra Singh Dhoni led-side is looking a pale shadow of the side that became the No.1 team in ODI cricket recently and they don’t look good enough to even make it to the semi-finals of the tournament.

“Their (the Indian players) mind seems to be elsewhere completely,” Akram told Mobile ESPN from Johannesburg after Australia scored 234 for four in 42.3 overs against India. The match was eventually called off due to incessant rains. “The Indian team has been looking listless and disinterested in the proceedings at South Africa. They don’t seem to be interested in playing and seem to be going through the motions in this tournament. I fail to understand the reason for that.”

Akram said that he was extremely disappointed by the performance of the Indian bowlers. “Against Pakistan, the seam bowlers bowled a bit too short with the spinners failing to curb the scoring rate or pick wickets. The story pretty much repeated itself in the game against Australia,” Akram said.

The former left-arm paceman said that among spinners off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was totally “off-color” as he was bowling too many deliveries that could be cut away easily. “Harbhajan was expensive for he was bowling short throughout.”

He also had some pretty harsh words to say about the Indian skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “Dhoni is looking disinterested as the skipper. He is not running to the bowlers and making suggestions or talking to them as often as he does,” Akram said. “His plans might have worked earlier but now it is not working so he will have to work harder with the team as the team needs him to show confidence in them now. Against Pakistan, he could have brought Harbhajan on earlier and he should have told him, don’t bowl short, get the batsmen to drive.”

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