Exclusive: Rohit Sharma is supporting players, while Virat Kohli used to get harsh sometimes, says Danish Kaneria

The  Asia Cup 2022 contest between India and Pakistan is less than two days away now. Both teams have already commenced preparations in Dubai and would look to get off to winning start on Sunday. Both camps have their set issues and injuries to deal with in build-up to the high-octane clash, but cricket will take centre stage on  Sunday. In Part II, former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, in an exclusive conversation with Firstpost.com, talks about transition of the Indian side, the Kohli vs Babar debate, lack of cricket between India and Pakistan, and more.

Excerpts:

 Your thoughts on transition of Indian team from under Kohli to under Rohit?

Talking about Kohli’s captaincy, he has led India to many victories and trophies, however, he failed to win any ICC trophy as a skipper, but that’s okay. Also, Kohli had a very good bonding and understanding with Ravi Shastri. However, under Kohli, team selection was not up to the mark, deserving players didn’t get enough chances and many other things went against Virat.

Talking about Rohit, he gels very well with Rahul Dravid. Also, Rohit is not aggressive as Kohli but he is bit calm. He has led Mumbai Indians to five IPL titles. Rohit is a confident player and carrying the team together in stupendous manner. He is rotating the youngsters in a structured way.

Rohit is supporting the players, while Virat used to get harsh sometimes. Overall, the transition has been good and Rohit deserved the captaincy as his performance in international arena and T20 League cricket is commendable. Rohit’s impact as the Team India captain is already visible. However, when it comes to setting the fitness standard for the team, Kohli kept the level high, but Rohit still has to work on that in order to maintain the standard that Kohli set for the team.

 Virat Kohli vs Babar Azam. Is this an unfair comparison now with Kohli struggling for runs across formats?

I fail to understand that why people even compare Kohli and Azam. It’s only right to compare when the two players hang up their boots as that’s when we can only know the career stats of both the players. Form is temporary, but when it was his time, Virat was ruling the world. He was the king. There was no country where he didn’t hit plethora of runs. He destroyed opponents at his will.

Now, Kohli is going through bad patch, while Azam is in terrific form and is leading the batting charts. So, it’s unfair to compare the two batters currently. According to me, it’s all social media hype as the comparison doesn’t make sense until both the batters quit playing cricket as, after that only we can compare their stats. Kohli and Azam are world-class batters and I would love to see both of them batting together in one team.

 With no bilaterals, you think Asia Cup and World T20 fixtures are slotted in a manner to make these nations play more?

There’s no doubt that India vs Pakistan generates more revenue than any other match, hence, it won’t be wrong to say that ICC and ACC intentionally add a fixture between the two teams in their respective tournaments. Interestingly, the 2007 ODI World Cup lost its charm when both India and Pakistan were knocked out of the tournament. Hence, ICC now makes sure that the neighbouring nations do face off against each other in the marquee events which also helps the cricket governing body to generate more revenue.

 Coming to bilaterals, with the political tension, do you see resumption of bilateral ties? If not in India or Pakistan, may be a neutral venue?

ICC should focus on scheduling a series between India and Pakistan even if it doesn’t consist of many matches. The venue can also be neutral. Fans want to see India and Pakistan playing against each other outside of the ICC events. However, given the current scenario, the probability of the arch-rivals playing against each other in a series is very low. But, someone has to be a big man between BCCI and PCB and show maturity to resume the bilateral series.

Do you think ICC Test championship is poorer without India vs Pakistan? Like we have both teams play in World Cups, about time they square off in Tests?

Now when ICC has come up with the Test Championship, India and Pakistan should play against each other irrespective of the venue. Even if there’s only one Test match between the two teams, but they should fight for the crucial points. Test format is charm and beauty of the cricket and not only fans, but myself as a cricketer is eager to watch India and Pakistan locking horns in Test cricket.

So, it’s absolutely correct that ICC Test championship is poorer without India vs Pakistan. However, it’s possible that both the teams clash against each other in the final of the tournament.

What about Pakistan players missing out on IPL? Are they missing on showcasing their talent on the big stage, especially the youngsters?

Absolutely. IPL is a major event and every cricketer around the world wants to play in IPL as it offers lucrative contracts and is the number one T20 league in the world. But despite IPL, the Ranji Trophy is the top most priority for Indian players. There’s a proper domestic structure in India, due to which budding players get numerous chances to showcase their talent. Moreover, if today India is able to create a B and C team for their international series, it’s because of their well-structured cricket at domestic level.

The Indian cricket board gives its young players the chance to play on big stage. It give them opportunities to perform at international level which ultimately helps them to increase their bench strength and keep the backups ready in any give situation.

Now, let’s talk about Pakistan. There’s lot of domestic cricket going on in the country and there’s PSL as well, but they still don’t focus on creating players or giving chances to the youngsters. The management is least bothered about making a team for future.

The best part about India is that they don’t have any kind of fear, they don’t care about winning or losing, instead they think about investing in youngsters to get returns in future. But, in Pakistan there’s a fear factor due to which they don’t give opportunities to youngsters, nor any chance to perform on big platforms. Ultimately, the budding players will become rusty due to the lack of game time.

Players like Shahnawaz Dahani, Zahid Mahmood, Saud Shakeel have performed superbly in domestic cricket but yet they are being ignored or dropped from the team by the Pakistan selectors. On the other hand, player like Agha Salman, who has no bright future in the Pakistan cricket team, is getting enough chances without any reason.

This is the major difference between the two neighbouring nations. While, Pakistan have not even started building their team, India have their plans and roadmap in place to build their team for the next 5-10 years.

Also, till the time there’s regional discrimination in the Pakistan cricket, they won’t be able to build a team that plays for the country as a single unit. Careers of numerous Pakistan players had been destroyed due to the regional discrimination, while India back their players no matter what and the biggest example of that is Virat Kohli, who is failing to score runs but the Indian management is still persistent to give him chances because they know the pressure will be on the opposite team if Kohli is in the playing XI. The management knows that once Kohli gets going, he would destroy the opposition single-handedly.

This shows the belief and faith that the Indian board and management have in their players, while in Pakistan team, everyone is only worried about their position in the team. They drop players without giving them enough time or chances. Indian management give numerous chances to its players because they are focused on making players and not destroy them.

Is the long standing notion of Pakistan bowling vs India batting still relevant? Considering both sides have taken giant leaps in all departments?

India’s bowling line-up is much better now. They have numerous top bowlers. On the other hand, Pakistan’s bowling is struggling and it was visible when they recently struggled to defend their total against Netherlands and somehow won the match by the margin of mere 15 runs. So, it shows how weak Pakistan bowling is and there’s a problem in the line-up.

All in all, there’s a drastic change in the world of cricket as in the past, India were known for its batting line-up which consisted of some legendary players like Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag. But now, India have changed as they are not only known for their batting but the team is seen as the combination of fantastic top order, match finishers and the bowling line-up consisting of gem of a spinners and fast bowlers.

On the other hand, Pakistan consist of a good top order, which includes Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam and Rizwan, but there’s no one dependable in the middle and lower order. In the bowling department as well, they are completely dependent on Shaheen Afridi. Pakistan even lack a spinner who can be termed as ‘magician’ and can turn around the game with his spell.

India made proper use of the time and now they have every type of player at their disposal for every format.

Pakistan are struggling in pace department and they even lack good finishers, proper middle order batters and quality spinners and the main reason behind it is that they don’t give opportunities and exposure to youngsters. How can Pakistan test their squad-depth when they won’t give consistent chances to youngsters?

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