Waqar Younis reveals the reason why Pakistan is currently the No 1 ranked T20I side

The Pakistan team registered a massive series whitewash against the touring Windies side in the recently concluded three-match T20I series in Karachi. With this hugely dominating win, the Pakistani side also consolidated their position on the No 1 spot in the current ICC T20I team rankings.

The No 1 ranked T20I side has been playing some fantastic and splendid brand of cricket in the shortest format of the game in the last couple of years. They have registered seven consecutive T20I series win against some of the best teams and also in the overseas nations and their last T20I series loss came in 2015 against New Zealand.

What is the reason behind Pakistan’s dominance in T20Is?

Former Pakistani cricketer Waqar Younis believes that the Pakistan team is so successful in the shortest version of the game as the Pakistani cricketers are not part of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The IPL is presently the most established and globalized T20 league contested in the sub-continent, in comparison with the other T20 leagues played in the different parts of the world. The Pakistani cricketers also participated in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008, but since the first season, all the Pakistani players are not allowed to be part of the T20 tournament due to some political tensions between the two neighbouring nations.

Waqar stated that since a current lot of Pakistani cricketers are not playing the IPL, the boys are getting to play more amount of international Twenty20 cricket. The experienced as well the young talents are being provided a large amount of exposure to display their abilities and strengths on the grandest stages, which gives the national T20I team an additional edge in comparison to the other teams.

Except for the Pakistani cricketers, all the other cricketers from different teams in the world are allowed to feature for any franchise in the IPL and since 2008 many such overseas, as well as local Indian players, have made a serious recognition for themselves by performing in the IPL.

“The reason why our team is number 1 in T20Is is that they don’t participate in IPL. Because of not playing IPL, our boys are down to earth and they want to play international cricket,” said Waqar as quoted by Pak Passion.

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