'Hindustan ko akhir Dhoni ka replacement mil gya': Former Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar praises this Indian player

India have dominated in all the series that have been played but there are some questions that still remain unquestioned.

From who will be the next finisher for India to even who will keep wickets, Indian fans have seen many changes in the recently concluded Australia ODI series.

Fans are even not sure about MS Dhoni's future with the Indian squad.

Talking about India's performance against the Aussies and Dhoni's possible replacement, former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has made a surprising claim.

Akhtar pitted Manish Pandey as the supposed successor of Dhoni in the Indian team.

"Hindustan ko akhir Dhoni ka replacement mil gya (India have finally found the replacement for MS Dhoni)," Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.

"India have found a good fit in Manish Pandey. Shreyas Iyer too looks a complete player and these add depth to India's batting," he added.

He even praised Indian captain Virat Kohli calling him "an exceptional leader".

"Virat Kohli is an exceptional leader. He is very tough mentally. He knows how to mount comebacks. His boys know it as well. He doesn't give up after setbacks. Then if you have talents like Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, then you know that if you have got the opposition out for less than 300, that too in Bengaluru, then you forget about stopping that chase," the speedster said.

Akhtar also called the ODI series as a 'Battle of Pride'. He said that there is something different about this team as in they don't panic after a loss.

"It was a Battle of pride. This is a new Indian team, not like my playing days. To win the series after losing the 1st match so comprehensively was quite difficult. In Chinnaswamy, basically, India bullied and hammered Australia; it was like playing with boys. This was too much from India(laughs), total annihilation."