‘India loses because of the pressure that it gets from..’ – Shoaib Akhtar analyses major reason for Team India’s underperformance

The world’s fastest bowler, Shoaib Akhtar recently got in an interview with Boria Majumdar and made some great observations and analysis about the Indian cricket team. Shoaib Akhtar believes the Indian cricket team often lose matches due to the intense pressure they receive from the media of losing sponsorships and money if the team loses. He believes the team is backed with great talent and that is not the reason behind their losses in tournaments and series. 

The Pakistan great also talked about how the ODI format of Cricket is dying and not many people are interested in it and he hopes this ODI World Cup 2023 is not the last world championship. He also discussed how India should be able to generate large amounts of revenue by hosting this marquee tournament after 12 years. 

Shoaib Akhtar on India’s high revenue from ODI World Cup 2023 

“Most of the time, India doesn’t lose because they are lacking talent. India loses because of the pressure that it gets from their own media. They get stuck over there. ‘Our sponsorship will die, our money is stuck’ and a lot of other things are said that build excessive pressure on the media. I would like to tell the Indian media and you [Boria Majumdar] as well to be a bit more considerate towards the Indian team. You all build so much pressure, why do you do it? How do you do it? We know very well because we are insiders but ultimately, it is the wrong thing to do when you’re mounting pressure on team India,” said Shoaib Akhtar. 

“I hope it’s [ODI World Cup 2023] not going to be the last one as I don’t see a future for 50-over cricket. This is gonna be the most beautiful and most amazing World Cup where India should make tons of money. I strongly believe India should make tons of revenue out of this World Cup. I am in this favour because not many people will tell you that the revenue that goes to the Apex Council from India, a portion of it comes to Pakistan and it helps in paying fees to the young domestic cricketers,” added Shoaib Akhtar.