Former Pakistan player Inzamam-ul-Haq has praised India for increasing the bench strength. According to him, India have managed to surpass the greatest Australian team in terms of producing match winners. Inzamam stated that India have fifty players ready to play for the team while lauding the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the improved domestic structure in the country.
Team India will be playing in two away tours at the same time later this year. While Virat Kohli-led team will be in England for the finale of the World Test Championship (WTC) and a five-match Test series against England, another Indian side will tour Sri Lanka for a limited-overs matches in July.
While the likes of Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and others will be involved in Test cricket, India will have Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal and others taking on Sri Lanka.
Inzamam said India are doing something which Australia couldn’t in the peak time.
“This idea of assembling a second Indian team is very interesting What India are trying to do today, Australia did this years ago, but they were not able to be successful in it. But the scenario today is such that India appear to be pulling it off. For the first time, I think it is happening that a national cricket team will be playing two different series. One side in one country and the other side in some other country, and both are national teams,” Inzamam said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
“When Australia were at their peak. From 1995 to say 2005-2010, they had tried to distinguish two international teams named Australia A and Australia B, but they didn’t get permission. India are doing what even Australia couldn’t do at their peak. And the move makes sense given the isolation protocols and everything, and it couldn’t have been possible to send the same team to both countries in such a gap,” the former Pakistan captain added.
Inzamam further added that there would hardly be any difference between the two squads.
“India at this time have so much strength that they are capable of doing this. Their pool of players is so huge that they are able to manage this. If you look at the players who would be travelling to Sri Lanka, it would appear as if this is India’s main team, such is their bench strength,” said Inzamam.
“India have improved their First-Class structure and then there is the IPL as well that has helped assemble two different teams at the same time. It’s almost as if India have prepared 50 guys who are ready to play for the national team,” he added.