Shoaib Akhtar picks his 'X-Factor' of Team India after T20I series victory

India has been on top ever since winning the T20I series against New Zealand with a full-strength team. They decided to go with heir benched player in the last two matches as well and the story remained the same. The Men in Blue team became the first to win a T20I series with the scoreline reading 5-0 by winning the final match at Bay Oval.

Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar lauded the Indian team for their dominating performance in the T20I series while analyzing the performances of every match. Akhtar also said the New Zealand team played totally foolish cricket and he also took special shots at veteran Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor for failing to take the team past the finishing line in what was his 100^th T20I.

Meanwhile, Akhtar, who was the first bowler to breach the 100mph barrier in international cricket, officially, said that neither KL Rahul or Rohit Sharma was the X-factors for the Indian team in their record-breaking series win over the Black Caps. Instead, he gave the credit to Jasprit Bumrah for bowling some amazing penultimate overs which resulted in two super overs and a brilliant win in the fifth match, in which he picked three wickets while conceding 12 runs in his spell.

Shoaib Akhtar heaped praise on India’s bowling force

“Bumrah is a class act. It took him 2-3 matches to come back to full rhythm. Some bowlers take their time when they come out from injuries. He took a couple of series but today he looked a class apart. 3 for 12 was just superb. Bumrah won’t let you score 25-30 runs in the death overs. Saini and Shardul were good too but I think Bumrah is the X-factor of the Indian side,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.

Bumrah was returning to the Indian fold after a lengthy layout which saw him missing the home series against South Africa, Bangladesh and West Indies due to a stress fracture in back, which required extended rehabilitation at the NCA in Bengaluru. “The match got close at one, point but we had belief, that we could squeeze in a couple of tight overs. First time in New Zealand, different ground dimensions, great result,” Akhtar further added.

Here’s the full video: