"This is India's C team" - Former wicketkeeper takes dig at Pakistan after IND vs ENG 2025 1st T20I

India hammered England comfortably by seven wickets in the opening T20I on Wednesday, January 22, in Kolkata. Former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal praised the Men in Blue for their performance despite the absence of senior players in the team.

Talking on his YouTube channel 'Catch And Bat with Kamran Akmal', the former cricketer highlighted that this Indian team do not have any player who played in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 series. While he thinks that this is India's 'C' team, he stated that England will have to do something different if they want to beat the hosts in the next match.

"There is no Kuldeep, there is no Jaiswal. There is no player who played the Border Gavaskar Trophy. In my opinion this is India's C team. Imagine what the combination will be when the A team is formed? Which team will have to put in how much hardwork to beat this Indian team. This is why England will have to do something different. They will have to respect the opposition and the conditions," he said (from 8:10 onawards).

Akmal took a dig at Pakistan as well, talking about how they lost the T20I series against South Africa but a young Indian team beat the Proteas 4-1. Kamran Akmal pointed out how the Men in Blue allow their younger players and develop them.

"Giving the back-up players a chance against small teams. In T20, you give confidence to your players like this. So, look at the performance of India's team in white ball cricket. Where did they not perform? Which team did they not give a tough time? In South Africa, they won 4-1. But we (Pakistan) lost to them in T20. But their team was not the main team. Their team was C. But India's C team is performing as if it is the main team and all the players are playing," the former cricketer reckoned (from 5:06 onwards).

"Because you can see the maturity level, game awareness, clarity. Look at Abhishek Sharma. Look at Sanju Samson's performance. Suryakumar Yadav did not perform so well in 3-4 matches but Tilak Verma has come and fixed his place. Look at Rinku Singh," he added.

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Kamran Akmal hails Varun Chakravarthy for stellar India comeback

Kamran Akmal also went on to laud spinner Varun Chakravarthy for the way he has scripted a comeback. Kamran described him as a 'match-winner' bowler.

"Because of Gautam's (Gambhir) arrival Varun Chakravarthy has become a part of the team. And since he has made a comeback after the 2021 World Cup he has become a different match winner bowler. And whoever is in the team is not able to understand how to play this bowler, how to handle him," he said in the aforementioned video (from 7:27 onwards).

Varun Chakravarthy was the 'Player of the Match' in the first T20I against England for his brilliant spell. He returned with figures of 3/23 from his four overs. The spinner accounted for the prized wickets of Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, and Liam Livingstone.