Wasim Akram: “When there was a set player at the other end, his job was to stay and rotate the strike back to him. There was no need to slog and lose the wicket”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Legendary Pakistan left-arm seamer Wasim Akram has admitted that he was less than impressed with the way in which seamer Hasan Ali got out in the national team’s World Cup opener against the West Indies.

Pakistan were already in all sorts of trouble when Hasan came out to the crease, but instead of playing the supporting role in order to allow Mohammad Hafeez to attack, Hasan went for an ugly slog and ended up being caught by Sheldon Cottrell at mid-off off the bowling of West Indies captain Jason Holder for one run.

The men in green ended up being skittled out for 105 and lost the match by seven wickets as the West Indies chased down their target with 218 balls to spare.

“It looked like he was chicken-hearted. When there was a set player at the other end, his job was to stay and rotate the strike back to him. There was no need to slog and lose the wicket,” Akram said on Geo’s program “Swing Ka Sultan”.

Pakistan’s next match will be against hosts England in Nottingham on Monday.

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