Team India has a strong pool of players and they have proved it in many ways. While a few youngsters stood up during India’s Test series win against Australia last year in the absence of their key players, the second string of Indian players will tour Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series as well. And, according to former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, Team India has managed to achieve something that even Australia couldn’t.
However, Inzamam-ul-Haq was talking about the Indian team’s bench strength. Notably, the team will soon travel to England for the upcoming inaugural edition of the World Test Championship (WTC) final and then they will play a five-match Test series against England as well. On the other hand, in July, another team will take on Sri Lanka.
“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,” he revealed in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel, ‘Inzamam ul Haq – The Match Winner’.
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“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 the permission. India are doing what even Australia couldn’t do in 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 further added.
However, youngsters will get an opportunity to showcase their talent in the Sri Lanka tour as the BCCI has named 20 top players and 4 standbys for the England tour. And, Inzamam-ul-Haq feels that India’s second team will also be as strong as the one in England, and they can beat the opponent as well. However, he also gave credit to the IPL for the bench strength.
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“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. 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,” Inzamam-ul-Haq concluded.
